Robinson's Podcast (Robinson Erhardt)

James Owen Weatherall is Professor of Logic and the Philosophy of Science and Department Chair at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also a member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Science, the Center for Cosmology, and the Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy. Jim is a physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, and works broadly on  the mathematical and conceptual foundations of classical and quantum field theories, as well as the philosophy of science more generally, though he has plenty of other interests, such as model building in finance. In this episode, Robinson and Jim discuss nothingness and the physics of the void, beginning with the debate between Leibniz and Newton on the nature of space, moving through the revolution ushered in by Einstein’s special and general relativity, and ending with the quantum vacuum state.

Jim’s Website: http://jamesowenweatherall.com

Void: https://a.co/d/eEwbGCh

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:49 Introduction

03:04 MFA, PhD, PhD

06:04 Physics and Metaphysics

16:00 Newton, Leibniz, and the Debate Over Absolute Space

39:32 How Did Einstein Change Our Understanding of Space?

01:03:28 How Does Quantum Theory Change Our Classical Picture of the World

01:14:15 Fields and the Quantum Mechanics of the Void

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Richard Kimberly Heck has been a professor of philosophy at Brown University since 2005, at which time they left their post at Harvard, where they had taught for over a decade. On the way to receiving their PhD in philosophy and linguistics at MIT, they studied at Duke and Oxford. While Professor Heck’s primary research focus has been logic and Frege, over the past few years they have shifted to the philosophy of sex and pornography. This is Robinson and Riki’s second conversation about pornography. The first, captured in episode five, was a general introduction to the topic. In this episode they discuss—among other topics—depictions of female sexuality in pornography, villains in the same, the ethics of sexual fantasies, and consent on college campuses.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch: @robinsonerhardt

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his indefatigable research on Israel and Palestine, which is what he and Robinson discuss in this episode of the show, marking the culmination of a three-installment mini-series on Israel and Palestine. In particular, they discuss the importance—or distraction—of ideology, whether Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestine, the message that October 7th sent to the Arab world, what Gaza has in common with the concentration camps of the Holocaust, Palestinian and Israeli psychology, and whether this conflict is going to be the end of humanity. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!: https://a.co/d/hDDj9OK

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:43 Introduction

2:56 Poisonous Ideology and the Israel-Palestine Conflict

14:20 Zionism, Imperialism, and the Conquest of Palestine

24:34 Is Zionist Israeli Policy Ethnically Cleansing Palestine?

42:28 Is Gaza a Concentration Camp? 

52:47 On Israel and the Leader of Hezbollah

1:01:36 Will Israel-Palestine Be the End of Humanity?

1:11:38 Does the Holocaust Justify Israel’s Response in Palestine? 

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Craig Callender is Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego. Craig works across the philosophy of science, and has published research on the philosophy of physics, applied ethics, the metaphysics of time, and other related areas. In this episode, Craig and Robinson discuss the content of a course he’s been teaching called Science vs Pseudoscience. More particularly, they talk about the boundary between science and pseudoscience, as well as case studies of science, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories, including super-string theory, psychoanalysis, astrology, and more. Craig’s most recent book, What Makes Time Special? (Oxford University Press, 2017), won the prestigious Lakatos Award in 2018. 

Craig’s Website: https://www.craigcallender.com 

OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode…

00:26 Introduction

7:15 A Course on Science and Pseudoscience

14:43 Karl Popper’s Demarcation Problem

22:56 Superstring Theory

29:26 Psychoanalysis

32:29 Astrology

36:04 Pseudohistory and Expert Selection

47:02 Flat Earth Theory

51:28 Why Clever People Believe Silly Things 

1:01:25 Personality Tests

1:14:12 Quantum Mumbo Jumbo

1:25:59 Replicability

1:29:15 Nutritionism

1:35:11 A Perpetual Motion Machine

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Lee Smolin is a founding and senior faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is best known for contributions to quantum gravity as a co-inventor of loop quantum gravity and deformed special relativity. Beyond his work in other areas of physics, Lee has written a number of best-selling books, the most recent of which is Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum (Penguin, 2019). In this episode, Robinson and Lee discuss one of the main tenets that has characterized his work over the past decades: Realism. They first talk about realism in quantum mechanics before moving on to Lee’s version of radical presentism, in which only what is occurring in the immediate present can be said to exist, before finishing the main body of their conversation with mathematics and its relation to both physics and cosmology. The episode ends with brief digressions on biology and living with Parkinson’s disease. Lee is also an Honorary Fellow of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: https://a.co/d/7GHcebp

The Singular Universe and the Unreality of Time: https://a.co/d/hZqLT59

Lee’s Website: https://leesmolin.com

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org/home

00:00 In This Episode…

00:47 Introduction

05:03 From Dropping Out of High School to Physics

10:42 Many-Worlds, Bohmian Mechanics, and Realism in Quantum Theory

29:18 Realism and the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

33:00 Uniting Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology

45:43 Working with Roberto Mangabeira Unger

55:10 The Singular Existence of the Universe

01:05:29 Lee’s Interest in Biology

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Anubav Vasudevan is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, where he works in formal epistemology and the history of logic, though he has published in a number of other areas. This is Anubav’s second appearance on the show. In episode #81, he and Robinson discussed mathematics, physics, and the history of logic. In this episode, they talk about the wonderfully bizarre metaphysics of the renowned pragmatist and logician Charles Sanders Peirce. 

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:18 Introduction

04:54 The History of Logic

19:39 Who Was Charles Sanders Peirce?

37:04 The Problem of the Single Trial

48:35 Finding Our Coherent Philosophical Selves

54:32 Charles Peirce’s Bizarre Metaphysics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7 Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. He was also the guest for episodes 109—on psychoanalysis, wokeness, racism, and a hundred other topics—and 118, where he appeared with Sean Carroll to discuss quantum physics, the multiverse, and time travel. Lee Smolin is a founding and senior faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the author of a number of bestselling books, including The Trouble with Physics (Mariner, 2006). He was the guest for episode 148, in which he and Robinson discussed presentism, the foundations of mathematics, and the philosophy of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Robinson, Slavoj, and Lee discuss time, space, superposition, and other concepts at the core of physics, as well as postmodernism, the big bang, problems with democracy, and much more. Lee is also an Honorary Fellow of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life. Lee’s Website: ⁠http://leesmolin.com⁠ The Trouble with Physics: https://a.co/d/eJZPWaE OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 06:26 Breaking the Copenhagen Interpretation 11:55 On Sabine Hossenfelder  21:11 On Monads, Atoms, and Democritus 30:18 Is the World a Game of Physics? 38:46 On the Big Bang 45:26 On European Immigration and Populism 53:09 A Few Jokes

Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠ Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Ray Briggs is a professor in the philosophy department at Stanford University. They did their doctoral work at MIT, and have since been working primarily in decision theory, epistemology, and metaphysics. In the last few years Ray has been writing and thinking about sex, gender, and transfeminism, which is what they and Robinson discuss in this episode, along with queer science fiction and thought experiments galore.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt

YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

David Builes is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, where he works in metaphysics and epistemology and has made serious contributions to the philosophies of mind, science, and mathematics. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss the metaphysics of time—including debates about the reality of the past, present, and future—the question of whether science can explain consciousness, and whether numbers exist as abstract objects.

David’s Website: https://davidbuiles.com

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

01:05 David’s Interest in Philosophy

05:47 On the Philosophy of Time

16:01 In Defense of Presentism

24:21 How Long is the Present?

25:58 Humean and Non-Humean Laws

28:02 Can Science Explain Consciousness?

40:25 Does David Believe His Work?

43:32 First-Person Realism

53:18 Is First-Person Realism Correct?

57:42 The Philosophy of Math

01:01:45 Do Numbers Exist?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between. 

Keith Frankish is an Honorary Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Sheffield, a Visiting Research Fellow with the Open University, an Adjunct Professor with the Brain and Mind Program at the University of Crete, and editor of the Cambridge University Press series Elements in Philosophy of Mind. He is best known for his “two-level” view of the human mind, covered in his book Mind and Supermind, and his defense of the philosophical thesis known as illusionism, which holds that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion. Robinson and Keith discuss a variety of aspects of illusionism, including just what it is—and isn’t—its relationship to free will, and how the thesis engages with academic literature outside of philosophy (please see http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/#CB for Kevin O’Regan’s demonstrations of change blindness, which are referenced in the conversation). You can keep up with Keith and his work on his website, Keithfrankish.com, or through his Twitter account, @keithfrankish. He is also, along with Philip Goff, the host of the podcast MindChat, which you can find at https://www.youtube.com/@MindChat/.

Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode…

00:43 Introduction

5:42 What Is the Hard Problem of Consciousness?

16:40 Tactics for Accounting for Anomalous Phenomena

22:14 An Illusionism Primer

42:13 Eliminative Materialism and Illusionism

45:18 Reading the Scientific Literature

59:19 Observing Other Minds

1:14:37 Is Free Will an Illusion?

1:23:18 Cognitive Science and Illusionism

1:55:34 A Thought Experiment Concerning Anesthesia

2:02:46 A Poetry Reading

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Benny Morris is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Middle East Studies at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. He is among the most respected and influential historians on Israel and Palestine. Benny is perhaps best known for his work on the 1947-1948 civil war in Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and for his book The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1948 (Cambridge, 1989). In this episode, Robinson and Benny discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict from a historical perspective, touching on the origin of the refugee crisis, the origin and justification of Israel, the legitimacy of Israeli military tactics, whether genocide is occurring in Palestine, whether Israel is an apartheid state, and more.

The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem: https://a.co/d/9pN2W7v

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

3:45 Muscular Judaism and the New Jew

8:53 The Nakba and the Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Crisis

16:18 How Many Palestinians Were Driven from Palestine?

22:32 Was Palestine Occupied Before the Establishment of Israel?

26:24 Did Zionists Invade Occupied Palestine

33:27 Was the Founding of Israel Justified?

39:49 Does Israel Have the Right to Exist?

43:56 Is Egypt Responsible for the Crisis in Gaza?

48:42 On Norman Finkelstein, Concentration Camps, and Hamas Rockets

51:48 Israel, Palestine, and Propaganda

54:09 On the Legitimacy of Palestinian and Arab Historians 

58:08 Does Israel Warn Palestinians Before Bombings?

1:00:59 Is Israel Committing Genocide Against Palestinians?

1:03:18 Is Israel an Apartheid State? 

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Philip Goff is a professor of philosophy at Durham University in the United Kingdom, where he researches consciousness and the philosophy of mind. He is the best known proponent of a view about consciousness known as panpsychism, which takes mentality to be fundamental in the world rather than something that either emerges out of complex structures or exists parallel to physical objects (as an immaterial property of things like souls). In this episode, Robinson and Philip discuss the major camps in the debate over consciousness, including physicalism, dualism, and panpsychism, touching on both their strengths and weaknesses. They then turn to a few questions raised in Philip’s most recent book, Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford, 2023), in which he seeks to find a middle ground between atheism and deism.

Why? The Purpose of the Universe: https://a.co/d/2cqj5Us

Philip’s Website: https://philipgoffphilosophy.com

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

04:41 Philip’s Interest in Consciousness

8:11 What Is Consciousness?

14:36 Is Consciousness a Spectrum? 

19:42 On Dualism About Consciousness

31:37 On Physicalism and the Mind

46:56 What Is Panpsychism?

53:27 The Best Arguments for Panpsychism

57:11 Panpsychism and the Combination Problem

1:02:20 On Panpsychism and Parapsychology

1:07:06 On Panpsychism and Free Will

1:13:04 On the Fine-Tuning Problem

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Nick is a software engineer at a biotech company. He studied politics, philosophy, and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. He and Robinson talk about the events that led him to abandon his deeply-held religious beliefs after a lifetime of Christianity. They also talk about moral facts, whether there are any, and whether their absence should play a role in Robinson deciding to shift toward being a vegetarian.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch: @robinsonerhardt

YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. In this episode of Robinson’s Podcast, Norman addresses some of the most common arguments made in defense of Israel, such as those purporting to show Israel is not committing genocide, that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, that Israel is fighting in self-defense, that Egypt is responsible for the crisis, and more. Norman also appeared on episode 192, where he and Robinson discussed October 7th, allegations of genocide and apartheid, and connections between the war and the Holocaust. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:47 Will Israel Nuke Palestine?

12:07 On Palestine and the Holocaust

15:10 Is Israel Getting Away with Genocide?

20:35 On Nuclear War and Israel’s Dependence on the United States

24:00 How Responsible Is Egypt for the Crisis in Gaza?

27:43 Does the Israeli Military Target Civilians?

36:27 Why Norman Finkelstein Can’t Watch the News from Palestine

38:06 On Hoaxes and Conspiracies in Israel-Palestine

47:06 On Corruption in Academia

49:16 Propaganda in Holocaust Scholarship

53:00 Facts and Fiction in Israel-Palestine

1:00:27 Norman Finkelstein’s Research Habits

1:05:10 Do Israeli Settlements Break International Law?

1:07:44 Why Does the United States Support Israel?

1:12:21 “Jewish Supremacy” Versus Harvard

1:20:11 Does Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism? 

1:29:38 Does Anti-Semitism Cause Protests Against Israel?

1:35:44 Is The War in Gaza Justifiable as Self-Defense?

1:42:39 On Becoming a Public Figure

1:50:51 On His War with Alan Dershowitz

2:04:19 On Integrity and Palestine Scholarship

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between. 

Dr. Anna Lembke received her undergraduate degree in Humanities from Yale University and and her medical degree from Stanford University. She is currently Professor and Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also Program Director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. In this episode, Robinson and Anna discuss her latest, New York Times bestselling book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021). More particularly, they talk about just what happens in the brain when someone develops an addiction, what current social and cultural conditions have led to increased rates of addiction, and how all of these factors—and addiction itself—ought to be combatted. Anna is also the author of Drug Dealer, MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins, 2016), which sounded the alarm on—and covers—various dimensions of the opioid crisis.

Dopamine Nation: https://a.co/d/0AJw6Je

Drug Dealer, MD: https://a.co/d/2soL324

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:56 Introduction

04:10 Addiction and Narrative

11:18 The Role of Dopamine in Addiction

20:29 Risk Factors for Addiction

27:31 Anna’s Addiction to Romance Novels

40:39 Pain, Pleasure, and Addiction

59:11 How to Tackle Addictions?

01:15:09 Is The Hype For Medical Psychedelics Overblown?

01:21:51 Honesty, Shame, and Recovery from Addiction

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Donald Hoffman is Professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, where he also has joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, and the School of Computer Science. Don has worked on a number of problems in his career, including human facial attractiveness, the mind-body problem, the evolution of perception, and even vehicle lighting. In this episode, Robinson and Don discuss his latest book, The Case Against Reality, which argues that human perception did not evolve to see the world as it really is, but in fact what we perceive is a world of icons that, in analogy to a computer desktop, bears no resemblance to what is going on in the objective space beyond our senses.

The Case Against Reality: https://a.co/d/9kxeOI8

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:19 Introduction

04:03 Why Don Thinks We Don’t Perceive Reality

07:55 Do We Interact with Reality Like an iPhone?

13:28 Vitalism and the Mystery of Consciousness

26:55 An Anecdote About Chomsky

30:00 Consciousness and Cutting the Brain in Half

41:20  Can Science Explain Consciousness?

49:15 How Beauty Disguises Reality

01:02:02 What is Veridical Perception?

01:10:13 The Battle Between Truth, Fitness, and Reality

01:31:16 Exploring the FBT Theorem

01:41:56 What is the Interface Theory of Perception?

01:47:10 Illusory Blue Jeans to Make Your Butt Look Good

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented the National Humanities Medal in 2007. In this episode, Robinson and Victor discuss the 2024 presidential election. More particularly, they review some of the main arguments for and against electing Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. This includes their records, domestic and foreign policies, recent assassination attempts, and more. Victor also appeared as a guest on episode #112, in which he and Robinson talked about what was at the time Victor’s latest book, The Dying Citizen. He was also a guest on episode #191, which covered Victor’s views on the current crisis in Israel and Palestine. Most recently, on episode #208, they spoke about Victor’s most recent book, The End of Everything. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show.

Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com

Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson

The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show

The End of Everything: https://a.co/d/46O0mMB

The Case for Trump: https://a.co/d/8Bf0OdC

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:56 Why Is The 2024 Election So Important?

10:18 Is Trump Innocent of All Charges?

20:19 Is Trump a Unique Election Denier?

27:30 On the Trump Assassination Attempts and Anti-Trump Conspiracy Theories

35:21 The Best Reasons to Have Voted for Joe Biden

44:44 Will Kamala Harris Bring a New Radical Agenda to the White House?

48:49 Why You Shouldn’t Vote for Kamala Harris

55:51 The Case for Trump

1:01:50 On Hillsdale College

1:07:52 On Hard Political Discussions in Hard Times

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.

Stephen Darwall is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is a world-renowned moral philosopher who has worked broadly across the ethical landscape, making important contributions to Kant scholarship, legal philosophy, deontology, and countless other areas. Steve and Robinson discuss the history of modern ethics, beginning with Hugo Grotius and traveling up through Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Bentham, and Smith before ending with Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s attack on morality.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Outline:

00:00 In This Episode

00:22 Introduction

4:04 Steve’s Time at Yale

12:39 Ethics and Normativity

19:56 Hugo Grotius and the Birth of Modern Ethics

30:18 Hobbes on Morality

39:33 Hume on Morality

45:56 Kant on Morality

54:59 Jeremy Bentham on Morality

58:31 Adam Smith on Morality

1:10:51 A Brief Diatribe on Google

1:16:28 The Continental/Analytic Divide

1:23:17 Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s Attack on Morality

1:35:21 Are Moral Philosophers Moral?

Sarah Moss is the William Wilhartz Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law by courtesy at the University of Michigan. She works primarily in epistemology and the philosophy of language, though in the case of this conversation her work has an important bearing on legal philosophy. Robinson and Sarah talk about her book Probabilistic Knowledge, which argues that you can know something that you believe even if you do not believe it fully, and as she quite aptly points out, “The central theses of the book have significant consequences for social and political questions concerning racial profiling, statistical evidence, and legal standards of proof,” all of which are discussed in this episode. Robinson and Sarah begin by introducing the concept of probabilistic belief before turning to Sarah’s argument in favor of probabilistic knowledge. They then turn to some applications of her work to outstanding puzzles in philosophy and law. Keep up with Sarah on her website, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ssmoss/, and check out Probabilistic Knowledge on Amazon, https://a.co/d/iobL8iZ.

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

3:58 Math and Epistemology

7:35 What is Probabilistic Belief?

11:22 Sarah, David Lewis, and Robert Stalnaker

28:26 Credence and Probabilistic Belief

33:40 Are All Beliefs Probabilistic?

56:57 Probabilistic Knowledge and Racial Profiling

1:20:25 Probabilistic Knowledge and Transformative Experience

1:29:30 Statistical Evidence and Legal Proof

1:48:39 Pragmatic Encroachment on Legal Proceedings

2:04:07 Is Belief a Strong or a Weak Attitude?

2:12:39 The Preface Paradox

2:21:06 Probabilistic Knowledge and the Newcomb Problem

2:27:18 Probabilistic Knowledge and the Philosophy of Action

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Deborah Gordon is Professor of Biology at Stanford University. She is a myrmecologist—an entomologist who studies ants—focusing on how complex behavior emerges from ant colonies, which have no central control. In this episode, Deborah and Robinson discuss some of the distinctive features of ants, how pheromones help to determine their behavior, examples of fascinating ant species, collective ant behavior, and the life cycle of an ant colony. For more of Deborah’s work on collective behavior, check out her book The Ecology of Collective Behavior (Princeton, 2023).

The Gordon Lab: https://web.stanford.edu/~dmgordon/

Ants at Work: https://a.co/d/7bpokYU

The Ecology of Collective Behavior: https://a.co/d/1bBT1h7

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

02:33 Ants and Embryology

05:29 General Features of Ants

13:14 Some Fascinating Ant Species

28:20 Pheromones and Ant Behavior

38:17 Ant Slavery

41:30 Collective Ant Behavior

47:04 A Colony’s Life Cycle

59:01 Revisiting Embryology

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between. 

Rachel Barney is Professor of Classics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. She received her PhD at Princeton and has taught at the University of Ottawa, Harvard, and the University of Chicago. She has worked widely across ancient philosophy, from the sophists to the Neoplatonists, though her primary focus is on Plato. In this episode, Robinson and Rachel discuss the sophists, beginning with just who they were and why they have been so maligned in contemporary discourse—even the word sophist today has pejorative connotations—and continuing through some of their most important thinkers, like Gorgias and Protagoras. Check out Rachel’s last book, Plato and the Divided Self (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode...

00:34 Introduction

04:28 Rachel’s Interest in Ancient Philosophy

09:49 Misunderstanding the Sophists

20:04 What Displaced the Sophists’ Philosophical Practices?

26:17 Philosophy and Protophilosophy

29:39 The Main Sophists

33:43 Gorgias and Non-Being

53:37 On Protagoras

1:07:40 Religion and the Sophists

1:12:55 More on Protagoras

1:17:50 Virtue in Homer and Hesiod

1:28:05 Ancient Philosophy and How to Live

Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Jody Azzouni is a professor of philosophy at Tufts University. While Jody is best known for his nominalist stance in the philosophy of mathematics, he is also an author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. He and Robinson talk about his love of writing and how his interest in mathematics bloomed during in his time spent at NYU and CUNY. They then move on to the debate between nominalists and platonists in the philosophy of mathematics, Jody’s own deflationary stance, and some adjacent concerns about ontological commitment in both formal and informal languages.

Outline:

00:00 Introduction

3:16 Jody’s Writing Background

9:05 Jody’s Poetry

21:20 The Relationship Between Jody’s Philosophy and Everything Else

32:33 Jody’s Interest in the Philosophy of Mathematics

40:02 The Platonist/Nominalist Opposition in the Philosophy of Mathematics

49:29 The Platonist Conception of Mathematical Objects

52:50 A Nominalist Argument Against Mathematical Realism

1:09:41 Varieties of Mathematical Nominalism

1:18:55 Nominalism in Mathematics and Metaphysics

1:24:39 Ontological Commitment in the Vernacular

1:35:30 A Poetry Reading

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt

YouTube (Robinson's Podcast): youtube.com/@robinsonspodcast

Apple (Robinson's Podcast) : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/robinsons-podcast/id1636469402

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/

Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt

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Michael Levin is a Distinguished Professor in the Biology Department at Tufts University, where he holds the Vannevar Bush endowed Chair, and he is also associate faculty at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. Michael and the Levin Lab work at the intersection of biology, artificial life, bioengineering, synthetic morphology, and cognitive science. In this episode, Michael and Robinson discuss what it means—if anything determinate—to be intelligent and to be alive before turning to the various fascinating ways collective intelligence arises at all levels of the spectrum, from microbes to synthetic chimaeras, which all adaptively solve complex problems using sophisticated cognition.

The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org/

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:55 Introduction

03:38 Michael’s Research Program

05:48 What Is Intelligence?

23:26 Does It Mean Anything to be Alive?

34:50 What Is Morphogenesis?

53:20 Slime Molds, Exploding Planaria Brains, and Intercellular Communication

01:11:48 Why Is Synthetic Life Useful in the Lab?

01:27:48 Final Thoughts

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. He and Robinson discuss a great many things, including the role of psychoanalysis in the cultural criticism of wokeness, the relationship between truth, science, and philosophy, and what quantum theory might tell us about the nature of reality.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:31 Introduction

04:07 Wokeness and Psychoanalysis

15:00 Free Speech and Curb Your Enthusiasm

23:32 Trans Ideology and Racism

34:23 Violence, Gender, and the Unconscious

41:06 Fate, Freedom, and Falling in Love

48:53 Free Association and Gender Identity

53:08 Truth, Science, and Quantum Theory

57:22 Nazis, the Jew, and Psychoanalysis

01:04:26  Unholy Alliances

01:07:20 Analytic and Continental Philosophy

01:17:27 World War III and Ontological Openness

01:23:25 Life is a Quantum Theory Video Game

01:27:27 Hegel and Quantum Theory

01:31:01 A Dirty Joke about Quantum Theory

01:34:14 Nazi Testicle Torture

(Photo by Matt Carr/Licensed from Getty Images)

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Ian Hutchinson is Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering in he Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT. He works in both plasma physics and nuclear physics and also writes on the philosophy of science and the compatibility of Christianity and science. In this episode, Ian and Robinson begin by discussing his work in plasma and nuclear physics, touching on space exploration, nuclear fusion, and the containment of superheated plasma. Then they turn to Ian’s religious beliefs and his understanding of how science and christianity are not only compatible, but complementary. Ian’s latest book is Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?: An MIT Professor Answers Questions on God and Science.

Ian’s Website: https://www-internal.psfc.mit.edu/~hutch/

Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?: https://a.co/d/2Vi2wKk

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:03 Introduction

06:15 Is There a Crisis in Plasma Physics?

19:19 What Is the Fourth Phase of Matter?

33:24 Plasma, Astrophysics, and Space Exploration

45:49 What Are Nuclear Fission and Fusion?

55:25 How Does Nuclear Fusion Work?

01:02:34 How Viable is Nuclear Fusion as a Clean Power Source?

01:19:03 Why MIT Nuclear Physicist Ian Hutchinson Believes in God

01:34:08 How Can Science be Compatible with Christian Miracles?

01:43:22 How an MIT Physicist Reads the Book of Genesis

01:49:11 The Perils of Scientism

01:58:59 Do Science and Religion Complement Each Other?

02:04:02 How Religion Informs Ian’s Work as a Plasma Physicist

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU. Before that, he did his undergraduate work in philosophy and physics at Yale and received his PHD from Pittsburgh in the History and Philosophy of Science. Tim is renowned as one of the leading philosophers of physics, and he also works in the philosophy of science and metaphysics. Among other things, Robinson and Tim talk about whether metaphysics should come prior to or after physics, the debates over absolute time and space, free will, the nature of physical laws, and David Lewis’s views on the Humean supermosaic. You can find out more about Tim and his work on his website, www.tim-maudlin.site.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Outline:

00:00 Introduction

2:35 Studying Physics and Philosophy

8:38 Theoretical Physics, Foundations, and Metaphysics

15:54 Physics and Free Will

26:17 The Mathematical Structure of the Universe

37:49 Hume, Lewis, and the Supermosaic

49:16 Laws of Nature

1:04:02 Moral facts

1:18:03 Absolute and Relative Space

1:34:27 Space and the Ether

1:39:31 The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence

1:46:08 Absolute Space, Time, and Relativity

1:53:07 The Infinity of Time and Space

Paul Boghossian is Silver Professor of Philosophy at New York University, where he is also Chair of the Philosophy Department. Paul has worked in a wide variety of areas within philosophy, including epistemology and the philosophy of language, mind, and logic respectively. Robinson and Paul discuss the sociological relationship between physics and philosophy, the Sokal Hoax, philosophy in public life, the role of the a priori and a posteriori distinction in metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, and the nature of moral facts. For more detail on the latter, check out Paul’s book with Timothy Williamson, Debating The A Priori (Oxford, 2020).

Debating The A Priori: https://a.co/d/diNADPx

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:32 Introduction

04:33 Physics and Philosophy

17:12 The Sokal Hoax

26:52 Distinguishing the A Priori and A Posteriori

31:59 Does The A Priori/A Posteriori Distinction Hold Water?

48:07 Clarifying the Distinction

53:51 Debating the A Priori with Timothy Williamson

01:03:11 Are There Moral Facts?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and one of the world’s most respected philosophers of physics. He is also the director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia. David and Robinson talk about the relationship between ancient and contemporary physics, the continuum on which lie theoretical physics, the foundations of physics, the philosophy of physics, and metaphysics, scientific anti-realism, the direction of time, and how moral expressivism relates to the naturalistic project.  

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt  

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt  

Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt  

YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Robert Stickgold is Professor of Pyschiatry at Harvard Medical School, where he researches sleep and dreams from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. In this episode, Bob and Robinson discuss the role of sleep in memory processing and emotional regulation, how sleep deprivation affects performance, and the evolutionary purpose and function of dreams.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:17 Introduction

03:06 Why Study Sleep?

12:04 How Does the Brain Process Different Types of Memories?

20:45 How Does Sleep Affect Memory Processing?

33:10 How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Memory Processing?

50:58 What Is The Connection Between Sleep and Emotions

01:09:03 How Do PTSD, Autism, and Schizophrenia Affect Sleep

01:32:00 An Interest in Dreams

01:34:05 Was Freud Wrong About Dreams?

02:03:29 On Hypnogogic Dreams

Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Robinson’s Fashion Empire: http://bit.ly/3XBKqO2

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s fifth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism; in #154, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself; in #190 they covered the Israel-Palestine conflict from a Marxist perspective; and in #222 they assess the end of the American Empire. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the 2024 election. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, both candidates’ economic policies, the Biden administration’s track record, Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, the promise of Kamala Harris, immigration, and the future of the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).

Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism

Class Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZN

Understanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

01:08 Is it Possible to Predict the Future?

07:51 The Irrelevance of Donald Trump

12:15 The United States vs The Savages

15:41 Does the Government Even Matter?

18:26 On Young Frankenstein and the Declining American Empire

20:49 On Richard’s Astounding Rhetorical Abilities

29:40 What Makes Donald Trump Great?

37:38 Was Trump Good for the Economy?

40:52 Did Trump Win the Economic War Against China?

43:46 Were Trump’s Tax Cuts Disastrous for Americans?

50:00 Why Won’t Trump Just Go Away?

52:29 Is Ukraine Doomed to Lose the Russian War?

54:26 On Private Versus State Capitalism (Or, American vs Russia)

1:00:21 Who Will be Left When America Crumbles?

1:05:04 How Can We Sum Up Biden’s Presidency?

1:13:14 What on Earth Should We Make of Kamala Harris

1:23:24 Donald Trump Versus Marxism

1:29:30 The Republican and Democratic War on Immigrants

1:37:38 Trump Vs Harris on Economics | Who Wins?

1:43:44 Trump Vs Harris on Russia, Ukraine, Israel, & Palestine

1:50:37 Trump, Harris, and the War on Data

1:55:10 On Richard Wolff, the Man, and Donald Trump

1:57:43 Will Trump or Harris Win 2024?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.

Jonathan Shedler is Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco and a faculty member at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. He is a psychologist and psychotherapist. In this episode, Robinson and Jonathan discuss the clinical side of psychoanalytic theory. They begin by describing just how different contemporary practice is from its beginnings with Freud a hundred years ago, before detailing how psychodynamic therapy compares to other forms of treatment for mental illness.

Jonathan’s Website: https://jonathanshedler.com/

Jonathan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathanshedler

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:36 Introduction

04:11 Disambiguating Psychoanalysis

16:22 What Is The Distinction Between Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy?

32:01 Free-Association and Transference in Psychotherapy

49:05 Dream Interpretation in Psychotherapy

59:37 The Five Psychodynamic Theories

01:07:36 Is Psychodynamic Therapy Effective?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Sheldon Goldstein is Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University, where he researches mathematical physics, the foundations of quantum mechanics, and Bohmian Mechanics. He is also Board Member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, founded by fellow Robinson’s Podcast multiverse denizen, Tim Maudlin. In this episode, Robinson and Shelly discuss all things Bohmian mechanics, from the origins of pilot wave theory with de Broglie to its chief theoretical innovations and its relationship to philosophy, including some of the main objections to—and strengths of—the theory. Check out Shelly’s book on the subject, Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: An Appraisal (Springer, 1996). If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Shelly’s Website: https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~oldstein/

Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-015-8715-0

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:55 Introduction

06:40 Kripke and Quantum Logic

18:30 De Broglie and Pilot Wave Theory

23:38 What is Bohmian Mechanics?

43:55 Sociology and the Origin of Bohmian Mechanics

52:57 John Bell and Bohmian Mechanics

57:32 Realism and Bohmian Mechanics

01:12:39 Current Work on Bohmian Mechanics

01:22:10 What are the Criticisms of Bohmian Mechanics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Wallace is Mellon Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he obtained PhDs in both physics and philosophy at Oxford. David works mainly in the philosophy of physics, and is best known for his development and defense of the Everett—or Many-Worlds—interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Robinson and David talk all about Many-Worlds, including its history, how it relates to the broader question of realism in the philosophy of science, its strong points, and some potential problems, such as how to account for probability in the multiverse. David’s book on the subject is The Emergent Multiverse (Oxford, 2014).

The Emergent Multiverse: https://a.co/d/3GOSC3a

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:18 Introduction

03:38 From Physics to Philosophy

12:54 Realism and the Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics

25:14 Hugh Everett and the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

48:56 Bryce DeWitt

51:33 How Does the Many Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics Work?

01:02:22 Are There Problems with the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? 

01:10:58 How Many Worlds Are There in the Multiverse?

01:21:54 How Can We Make Sense of Probability in the Multiverse?

01:43:44 Is The Multiverse Too Absurd to Believe In?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. In this episode, Norman and Robinson sit down for a discussion about Donald Trump, the latest from Israel, Palestine, and Gaza, and the dying Left. Norman also appeared on episode 192, where he and Robinson discussed allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hamas and Hezbollah, and connections between the war and the Holocaust. Norman was also featured on episode 218, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War, and episode 228, which was all about October 6th. Norman and Robinson also discuss Mehdi Hassan, Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, the Holocaust, Apartheid, Joan Peters, Julia Sebutinde, the Mossad, Sheryl Sandberg, Destiny, Lex Fridman, Bill Ackman, Alan Dershowitz, and more. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:07:25 Mehdi Hassan: The Working Class is Stupid

00:12:59 How Far Will the Supreme Court Go with Donald Trump?

00:21:49 Why Bernie Sanders Appeals to the Common Man

00:38:12 How Did Identity Politics Help Trump Win?

00:46:02 The Joy of Stereotypes

01:01:23 Why the People Loved Bernie Sanders and Trump

01:06:16 Noam Chomsky, Philosopher King

01:11:16 Christopher Hitchens Was Not a Serious Intellectual

01:20:58 Norman’s Parents Hate For Religion After the Holocaust

01:34:06 A Lex Fridman and Destiny Conspiracy

01:37:12 Norman’s Family and the Holocaust

01:45:43 Why Jews Stopped Caring About the Holocaust

01:54:43 Why Norman Never Had a Bar Mitzvah

02:02:52 Why Norman’s Parents Hated Germans and Poles

02:11:22 Comparing Gaza to the Holocaust

02:16:48 Comparing Gaza to Apartheid South Africa

02:24:41 Corruption Over Genocide in Palestine

02:27:05 On the Colossal Joan Peters Palestine Hoax

02:30:16 On Norman’s Time as a Maoist

02:39:35 The Corruption of Julia Sebutinde at the International Court of Justice

02:42:25 Does the Mossad Blackmail Public Figures?

02:52:49 Sheryl Sandberg and the War Crime “Israeli Propaganda Machine”

03:05:19 On Accusations of Sex Crimes on October 6th

03:18:12 On His Mortal Feud With Alan Dershowitz

03:31:19 On Bill Ackman and the Pro-Israel American Billionaire Class

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Chike Jeffers is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Dalhousie University, where he researches Africana philosophy, the philosophy of race, social and political philosophy, and ethics. Lucius Outlaw is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus and W. Alton Jones Chair Emeritus in the Philosophy Department at Vanderbilt University, where he researches African, Africana, continental, social, and political philosophy. Both Chike and Lou have written widely on African and Africana philosophy, which form the subject of this episode. More particularly, Robinson, Chike, and Lou discuss the origin of Africana philosophy in the diaspora, violence in Africana philosophy, and the role of aesthetics in the tradition. For background, check out Lou’s article on Africana Philosophy in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Chike’s work with Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri on the History of Indian and Africana Philosophy Podcast.

History of Indian and Africana Philosophy Podcast: https://historyofphilosophy.net/series/africana-philosophy

Africana Philosophy on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/africana/

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode

00:52 Introduction

03:14 What Is Africana Philosophy?

30:16 Distinguishing African and Africana Philosophy

37:16 Violence in Africana Philosophy

01:04:44 Aesthetics and Africana Philosophy

01:28:17 Final Thoughts

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s third appearance on the show. He was also a guest on episode 180, where he and Robinson discussed neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, and the rentier economy, and on episode 198, where they discussed Marxism, economic parasites, and contemporary debt cancellation. In this episode, Michael and Robinson talk about the history of debt cancellation in the ancient world—including Babylon, Greece, and Rome—how they helped to stave off economic collapse, how the failure to implement them contributed to the demise of these civilizations, and how they might be used in today’s economies. Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024). This episode was recorded at Austin’s Ale House in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, and comes highly recommended.

Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com

Temples of Enterprise: https://a.co/d/a3c53dm

Austin’s Ale House: https://www.austinsteakandalehouse.com/

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:08 Michael’s Interest in Debt

08:23 Why Countries Can’t Pay Their Debts

12:14 Debt Cancellations in the Ancient World

16:51 Can Society Survive Forgiving Everyone’s Debts?

21:30 The Brilliance of Bronze Age Economics

29:19 What Happened When Ancient Harvests Failed?

32:04 The Timeless War of Creditors Against Debtors

37:49 Why States Should Print Their Own Money

41:11 How the Catholic Church Created the Modern State

55:50 On the Origin of Money

01:01:28 On the Economics of Ancient Babylon

01:07:17 Were Ancient Economists Better than Today’s?

01:09:09 The Most Important Prices of an Economy

01:11:39 Uncovering the Collapse of Babylon

01:22:30 Debt and the End of Civilization

01:24:58 Are Ancient Economics the Key to the Future?

01:30:33 Should the Government Forgive Student Loan Debt?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/robinsonerhardt

Jon Butterworth is Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at University College London, where he works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. In this episode, Robinson and Jon discuss his work on the standard model of particle physics, it’s connection to quantum theory, life at the LHC, the search for the Higgs Boson, and its role in physics as we know it and going forward. Jon’s book on the Higgs boson is Most Wanted Particle: The Inside Story of the Hunt for the Higgs, the Heart of the Future of Physics (The Experiment, 2016).

Most Wanted Particle: https://a.co/d/02B0H5C

00:00 Pre-Roll

00:16 Introduction

03:01 Jon’s Interest in Physics

10:02 What Is the Standard Model of Particle Physics?

19:31 How Does Quantum Theory Fit into the Standard Model? 

25:28 How Does the Large Hadron Collider Work? 

44:39 On The Theory Behind the Higgs Boson 

56:45 Is the Higgs Boson the God Particle?

58:50 How Does The Higgs Boson Work (For Dummies)?

01:02:22 Where Does Mass Come From in the Universe? 

01:11:01 The Higgs Boson, Quantum Gravity, and Meta-Stability

01:25:28 Life at the LHC

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Robert Plomin is MRC Research Professor of Behavioral Genetics at King’s College London. He has published over 800 papers, is among the hundred most cited psychologists of the twentieth century, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his research, the best known of which is on twin studies and behavioral genetics. In this episode, Robinson and Robert discuss the distinction between molecular and quantitative genetics, how one researches the question of nature vs nurture, the extent to which genetics determines human behavior, the controversies about these lines of research, and what to expect in the next ten years of behavioral genetics. Robert’s most recent book is Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (MIT, 2018).

Blueprint: https://a.co/d/eqpK5dB

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:06 Introduction

03:22 An Interest in Behavioral Genetics

12:46 The Distinction Between Quantitative and Molecular Genetics

26:12 How Impactful is Genetics on Behavior?

33:25 Twins, Adoption, and Nature Versus Nurture

41:07 Some Remarkable Consequences of DNA Sequencing

50:43 Nazis, Intelligence, and the Controversy of Genetics Research

01:02:16 Is Intelligence Heritable?

01:15:51 The Generalist and Modular Models of Genes

01:21:50 Is Depression Genetically Determined?

01:31:22 What Is The Role of Nurture in Human Behavior?

01:39:08 What Behaviors and Traits are Heritable?

01:44:53 The Next Ten Years

01:52:47 Is Socioeconomic Status Heritable?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Clara Sousa-Silva is a professor of physics at Bard College, where she is a quantum astrochemist and molecular astrophysicist. The focus of Clara’s work is on investigating the interaction of particular molecules with light so that they can be detected on exoplanets, where, in addition to giving us atmospheric information, these chemicals may indicate the existence of life. In this episode, Robinson and Clara discuss her research on a specific molecule—phosphine—which may play a key role in identifying planets that are home to aliens, including some that may be very close to earth.

Clara’s Website: https://clarasousasilva.com

Clara’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrPhosphine

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:15 Introduction

03:46 Clara’s Interest in Astrophysics

14:08 What Is Phosphine?

27:15 A Stinky Gas and the Search for Aliens

38:37 Have We Encountered Aliens?

45:33 Aliens and Phosphine

50:46 The Daily Work of a Quantum Astrophysicist and Astrobiologist

01:00:36 Are There Aliens on Venus?

01:19:26 Finding Life Outside the Solar System

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Nick Bostrom is a Swedish philosopher who was most recently Professor at Oxford University, where he served as the founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute. He is best known for his book Superintelligence (Oxford, 2014), which covers the dangers of artificial intelligence. In this episode, Robinson and Nick discuss his more recent book, Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World (Ideapress, 2024). More particularly, they discuss the alignment problem with artificial intelligence, the problem of utopia, how artificial intelligence—if it doesn’t make our world horrible—could make it wonderful, the future of technology, and how humans might adjust to a life without work.

Nick’s Website: https://nickbostrom.com

Deep Utopia: https://a.co/d/b8eHuhQ

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

02:50 From AI Dystopia to AI Utopia 

9:15 On Superintelligence and the Alignment Problem

17:48 The Problem of Utopia

21:14 What Are the Different Types of Utopia?

28:04 AI and the Purpose of Mathematics

38:59 What Technologies Can We Expect in an AI Utopia?

43:59 Philosophical Problems with Immortality

55:14 Are There Advanced Alien Civilizations Out There?

59:54 Why Don’t We Live in Utopia?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Dani S. Bassett is the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Perry Zurn is Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University. Dani and Perry both do a great deal of interdisciplinary work within their fields, but Dani is best known for her work in systems neuroscience, while Perry’s research is primarily in political philosophy. The subject of this episode, however—though systems neuroscience and political philosophy both make their appearances—is Dani and Perry’s book, Curious Minds: The Power of Connection (MIT, 2022). While it wouldn’t be immediately apparent from their different fields of study, Dani and Perry are in fact identical twins, and they write that their book “represents the thought of one mind and two bodies” as they explore the nature of curiosity from both philosophical and neuroscientific perspectives, developing an account of curiosity that stresses the relationship between ideas and people. Robinson, Dani, and Perry discuss complex systems, how curiosity has been studied from a variety of different academic perspectives, the three curiosity-embodying archetypes they have identified, knowledge networks, large language models, and more.

Curious Minds: https://a.co/d/3MeVY7m

Dani’s Website: http://www.danisbassett.com

Perry’s Website: https://www.perryzurn.com

Dani’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaniSBassett

Perry’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/perryzurn

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:52 Introduction

03:42 Human Curiosity?

06:07 Complex Systems

07:22 Curiosity from a Psychological Perspective

13:09 A Network Account of Curiosity

18:40 Foucault and Great Lakes Philosophy

29:39 Building Knowledge Networks

43:08 Walks through Knowledge Networks

57:25 Curiosity, Large Language Models, and Education

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Stephen Darwall is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is a world-renowned moral philosopher who has worked broadly across the ethical landscape, making important contributions to Kant scholarship, legal philosophy, deontology, and countless other areas. In this episode, Robinson and Steve talk about Steve’s strabismus (a visual impairment) and how it affects the way he sees the world, violence and human dignity, second-personal ethics, and Steve’s work on the relationship between philosophy and the heart. This is Steve’s second appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his first, episode #49, Steve and Robinson discussed the history of modern ethics, beginning with Hugo Grotius and traveling up through Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Bentham, and Smith before ending with Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s attack on morality. Check out Steve’s book on second-personal ethics, The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability (Harvard, 2009).

Steve’s Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/stephendarwall/

OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode…

00:35 Introduction

3:57 Creative Pursuits and Strabismus

26:57 Violence and Human Dignity

56:42 Cognitive Science, Violence, and Dignity

1:05:55 What Is Second-Personal Ethics?

1:15:54 Moral Obligation, Recognition, and Second-Personal Ethics

1:27:57 Philosophy of the Heart

1:52:58 Chattel Slavery, Reparations, and the Heart

2:04:22 Steve and the Heart

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Yascha Mounk is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Yascha has written five books, the most recent of which is The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time (Penguin, 2023). In this episode, Robinson and Yascha talk about this latest work. They begin by discussing the interrelationship between political theory, political science, and political philosophy before moving on to the role of equality in the politics on the left over the past hundred years. Then they turn to the rise of identity politics, its dangers, and how we can avoid what Yascha refers to as “the identity trap.”

The Identity Trap: https://a.co/d/jh6IZIR

Yascha’s Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:32 Introduction

04:48 Distinguishing Political Theory, Science, and Philosophy

12:02 Why Focus on the Left Rather than the Right?

27:33 The History of Equality on the Left

32:38The Origin of Identity Politics

44:19 Universalism and Cultural Marxism

50:48 How Did Identity Politics Spread So Fast?

58:16 Do Identity Politics Conflict with Psychology?

01:12:00 How Do We Escape Identity Politics?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s seventh appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #230, he and Robinson discussed Richard’s arguments against electing Donald Trump for president, as well as his analysis of the election. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).

Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism

Class Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZN

Understanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

05:48 Three Months Later: Why Did Trump Defeat Harris?

08:34 How the Left Can Defeat Donald Trump

12:57 Donald J. Trump Is a Naughty Boy

15:06 Why Kamala Harris Lost the Election

16:27 Why Trump Won the Longshoremen’s Union (Because the Left Failed Them)

25:23 Is Victor Davis Hanson Wrong About the Elites’ War on the Working Class?

36:31 Did West Coast Elites Cause the LA Wildfire Disaster (Is Victor Davis Hanson Wrong?)?

42:26 Why Richard Wolff Enjoys Tucker Carlson

47:02 Can Psychoanalysis and the Subconscious Explain Donald Trump’s Victory?

54:32 Why Unemployment Tanked Harris in the Election

59:45 Deep Seek, The Chinese Phenomenon

1:05:31 The Astonishing Story of How China Came to Dominate Elon Musk Over Electric Cars

1:13:25 Donald Trump’s Huge Misunderstanding About Tariffs

1:17:44 Donald Trump’s Irrational Bluster Tactics

1:20:04 Richard Wolff Exposes Donald Trump’s Contradictions About Immigration

1:34:23 The Marxist Truth About Why Immigrants Are a Gift to the United States

1:41:37 The Weakness of the American Empire

1:44:34 Why Trump’s Policies Will Increase Illegal Mexican Immigration and Drug Trafficking

1:47:58 Should Trump Make Canada the 51st State?

1:51:04 How Elites Rejected Donald Trump and Created the Man He Became

1:54:45 On Larry Summers’s Debacle at Harvard (And How Donald Trump Did It Better)

1:59:25 Why Donald Trump Wants to Take the Panama Canal (And the Actual Best Reason to Control It)

2:02:33 How American Neocons Failed to Stop China From the World Superpower

2:13:29 How the BRICS Are Drastically Outperforming the American Economy

2:20:14 On Europe’s Impending Economic Doom

2:25:18 Is There a Fatal Contradiction in Trump’s Climate Policy?

2:30:03 On Donald Trump’s Anti-Elitist, Anti-DEI Rhetoric

2:33:20 How Will AI Affect China and America’s Economic War?

2:43:19 How Elon Musk is Only an Unsuccessful Bureaucrat

2:45:04 How China’s Communist Government Is More Efficient than the United States’s

2:48:11 Why the United States Is the Aggressor Against China

2:51:10 Why Trump Thinks We Should Conquer Greenland

3:02:18 On China’s Number One Global Priority

3:09:41 What Marxists Learned from the Failure of the Soviet Union

3:15:23 Some Key Lessons from Marx’s Kapital

3:21:56 On How History Will Overwhelm Trump In the Next Four Years

3:26:30 Donald Trump and the Gulf of America

3:28:28 Why We Should Expect More of the Same from Donald Trump

3:32:26 On His Hope For a Brighter Future From the Left

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Raphael Bousso is the Chancellor’s Chair in Physics at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, where he leads the Bousso Group in research on quantum gravity and quantum information. He is a renowned string theorist famous also for his development of the string theoretic landscape and the Bousso bound in holography. In this episode, Robinson and Raphael talk about the foundations of quantum mechanics and whether or not there are any deep mysteries within the theory that remain to be solved, and whether philosophical discussion of these issues is overblown. More particularly, they get into what quantum theories tell us about the world, whether we need different interpretations of quantum mechanics, whether the final theory of the universe will be quantum mechanical, how quantum mechanics connects to cosmology, the multiverse, and quantum gravity, and more. The Bousso Group: https://lightsheet.berkeley.edu OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 00:58 Raphael’s Interest in the Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics 06:11 What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us About the World? 19:43 Just What Is an Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? 26:17 Are There Serious Holes in Quantum Mechanics? 31:01 Schrödinger’s Cat 45:11 UV Completion 48:57 Will The Final Theory of Physics Be Quantum Mechanical? 58:00 How Cosmology Might Help Answer Questions About Quantum Mechanics 1:13:44 String Theory and the Multiverse 1:20:39 How the Multiverse Can Explain Probability 1:30:01 Will the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics Help Us Solve Quantum Gravity? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Massimo Pigliucci is K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York, where he specializes in both ancient philosophy and the philosophy of science. In addition to a doctorate in philosophy, Massimo has a PhD in evolutionary biology. In this episode, Robinson and Massimo discuss the vast landscape between science on the one hand and pseudoscience on the other, covering how they should be distinguished, examples galore, and the role of the public intellectual in science education. Check out Massimo’s excellent book, which ranges across these topics and more, Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk.

Nonsense on Stilts: https://a.co/d/agrSGF4

Massimo’s Website: https://massimopigliucci.org

Massimo’s Substack: https://figsinwinter.substack.com/

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:22 Introduction

04:17 Massimo’s Interest in Pseudoscience

10:29 What Is Pseudoscience?

24:36 Pseudoscience and The Search For Aliens

39:43 Conspiracy Theories and Expert Selection

46:00 Should Scientists Debate Pseudoscientists and Conspiracy Theorists?

49:20 Aristotle and the Elements of Scientific Communication

59:41 The Decline of the Public Intellectual and the Rise of the Think Tank

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Jay McClelland is Lucie Stern Professor in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology. Along with other towering figures like Geoffrey Hinton, Jay is considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence. In this episode, Robinson and Jay discuss some of his main interests in and contributions to the field, including his work on parallel distributed processing with David Rumelhart, the relationship between neural networks and the brain, and just what developments are necessary for artificial intelligence to replicate the thinking of the greatest human scientists and engineers.

Parallel Distributed Processing: https://a.co/d/aELzYx2

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:30 Introduction

02:55 Jay’s Beginnings in Psychology

07:46 What Is Parallel Distributed Processing?

24:21 Cognitive Phenomena and Neural Networks

37:27 Fodor and Pylyshyn on Neural Networks

52:10 Affective Reasoning

55:52 Advancing AI to Compete with Scientists

01:10:02 What Distinguishes AI From Our Greatest Thinkers?

01:14:15 AI and Mathematical Cognition

01:18:47 Macrostructure and Microstructure

01:43:32 Final Thoughts

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Haim Gaifman is a philosopher and mathematician. He teaches at Columbia University in New York City. Haim and Robinson talk about Alice in Wonderland, Bertrand Russell, and paradoxes.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

Justin Clarke-Doane is a professor of philosophy at Columbia University, where he works on the philosophy of mathematics, physics, and metaethics. He and Robinson discuss ice cream and Justin’s fantastic hair, along with less important topics, like philosophy and mathematics.  Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Lawrence Krauss is a theoretical physicist who has taught at Yale, Arizona State University, and Case Western, and is the founder of ASU’s Origins Project. He is a prominent public intellectual and best-selling author, and has written about the origins of the universe, atheism, and many other topics. He is also the host of the Origins Podcast. In this episode, Robinson and Lawrence have a wide-ranging conversation about the current state of physics—and whether or not there is a crisis—the potential shortcomings of string theory, whether or not the world is a hologram, arguments for the existence of god, and the role of science in ethics. Lawrence’s most recent book is The Edge of Knowledge (Post Hill Press, 2023).

Lawrence’s Website: https://lawrencemkrauss.com

The Edge of Knowledge: https://a.co/d/6tIrJzy

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

04:04 Theory versus Experiment

10:13 Is There a Crisis in Physics? 

22:43 On the State of Quantum Gravity

25:40 What’s Wrong with String Theory?

40:58 Cormac McCarthy

50:22 Is the World a Hologram?

1:02:14 God and the Fine-Tuned Universe

1:19:33 Does Science Help Us with Morality?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Chiara Mingarelli is a gravitational-wave astrophysicist and a professor in the Department of Physics at Yale University. She studies supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies and their mergers using data about gravitational waves that are detected by pulsar timing array experiments. In this episode, Robinson and Chiara discuss PTAs, gravitational waves, black holes, how and why they merge, and the fresh release of NANOgrav’s fifteen-year data set, which gives the first ever evidence of a gravitational wave background in the universe, an unprecedented discovery that marks the dawn of a new era of astrophysical research.

Chiara’s Website: https://www.chiaramingarelli.com/

Chiara’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dr_CMingarelli

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode...

00:30 Introduction

02:58 Chiara’s Interest in Black Holes

10:25 What Are Gravitational Waves

15:47 Detecting Gravitational Waves

31:39 How to Visualize Black Holes

40:55 Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

48:51 Two Different Backgrounds

53:46 Collecting and Interpreting Data

56:36 Why Do Black Holes Anchor Galaxies?

58:34 Why Do Black Holes Form Binaries?

01:04:25 Lingering Questions

01:11:33 Cosmic Strings

01:17:35 NANOgrav’s Data Release and the Gravitational Wave Background

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Haim Gaifman is a professor of philosophy at Columbia university in New York City. He is also a mathematician and probability theorist. In this episode (Haim’s fourth appearance), Robinson and Haim discuss the origins of set theory as the mathematical discipline developed to study the infinite, as well as its relation to Richard’s paradox.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt

YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Luvell Anderson is a professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, where he’s also an affiliate faculty member of Women’s and Gender Studies and African American Studies. He is the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race and the soon-to-be-released Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of Language. He is also currently working on a book about the philosophy of humor—The Ethics of Racial Humor—which is the topic of this episode. After beginning with a discussion of just what humor is, Luvell and Robinson move on to the distinction between racial and racist humor, Dave Chappelle, the ethics of roasting, what makes comedy human, and more. You can keep up with Luvell at andersonluvell.weebly.com and through his Twitter account, @luvell_anderson.

linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode

00:28 Introduction

3:05 Luvell’s Interest in Comedy

5:32 What is Humor?

12:22 Slurs and Hate Speech

17:45 Is Humor Uniquely Human?

23:32 Racial Humor and Racist Humor

32:48 Sexist Humor

38:51 Dave Chappelle

44:05 Roasting Ethics

53:05 A Genetic Approach to Comedy

59:12 Horror and Humor

1:05:15 Comedy, Connection, and Progressive Change

1:09:40 What Makes Comedy Human

1:14:03 Audience Sensitivity

1:17:56 Humor and Media Psychology

1:21:54 Laughing With and Laughing At

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Dr. Anna Lembke received her undergraduate degree in Humanities from Yale University and her medical degree from Stanford University. She is currently Professor and Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also Program Director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. This is Anna’s second time on the show. On episode 117, she and Robinson discussed her latest, New York Times bestselling book, Dopamine Nation (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021). In this episode, they discuss psychiatry and some of its philosophical connections. Some of the topics they cover include psychiatric phenomenology, eating disorders, the patient-psychiatrist relationship, therapeutic modalities, moral realism, the goals of therapy, and the upcoming Official Dopamine Nation Workbook.

Dopamine Nation: https://a.co/d/0AJw6Je

The Official Dopamine Nation Workbook: https://a.co/d/0eVHKFc1

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:01 Meta-Commentary, Telehealth, and In-Person Psychiatry

13:50 Transference in Therapy

23:01 Moral Realism

33:45 Nietzsche and Veganism

42:43 Reductionism, Emotion, and Psychiatry

45:55 On Treating Eating Disorders

52:24 The DSM-V and Psychiatric Practice

01:00:00 The Relationship Between Science and Psychiatry

01:08:31 Robinson’s Speech Patterns

01:15:40 Medication Versus Therapy

01:23:07 Creative Pursuits and Therapy 

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between. 

Nick Huggett is a philosopher of physics and science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before that, he studied physics and philosophy at Oxford and received his PhD at Rutgers. Despite not having taken a physics class since the eighth grade, this podcast marks the beginning of Robinson’s ambition to learn a bit more about the philosophy of physics. Nick and Robinson talk about Zeno of Elea’s paradoxes of motion and composition, as well as how they might be related to quantum gravity and string theory.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch: @robinsonerhardt

Thomas Ryckman is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, where he works on the philosophy of physics. Mark Wilson is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, where he works at the intersection of the philosophy of math and physics on the one side and metaphysics and the philosophy of language on the other. Tom, Mark, and Robinson discuss the present state of analytic philosophy, the dominant tradition in the United States, including some potential obstacles and important ideas of the twentieth century that have been forgotten.

OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

2:07 Tom and Mark’s Friendship

9:46 Problems with Contemporary Analytic Philosophy

15:18 Hertz and a Metaphysical Notion of Force

18:04 Thoughts on Wittgenstein

20:40 Mark and the French Structuralists

29:41 The Single Greatest Problem Confronting Analytic Philosophy Today

37:45 Some Thoughts on Grounding

1:02:40 Mach, Duhem, Hertz, and Analytic Philosophy

1:14:26 A Historical Overemphasis on Logic

1:29:54 Final Thoughts on the Current State of Academic Philosophy

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Achille Varzi is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and Bruno Kessler Honorary Professor at the University of Trento. He is a world-renowned metaphysicist and logician, and widely regarded as the greatest living mereologist. Yet despite all this Robinson asks Achille about his sleep habits, though afterward they discuss some more important philosophical questions: What is ontology? What is metaphysics, and how is it different from physics? After some tangents on nominalism and truthmakers, the conversation ends with a reflection on some of the late Saul Kripke’s contributions to philosophy.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Outline:

00:00 How Kangaroos Got Their Name

00:52 Introduction

4:54 Achille’s Start in Philosophy

11:24 Some Thoughts on Wittgenstein

16:57 Writing Philosophy in a Second Language

23:01 Achille’s Absurd Sleeping Habits

30:41 What is Metaphysics?

43:01 Distinguishing Physics From Metaphysics

50:48 Ontology, Metaphysics, and Truthmakers

01:23:37 Saul Kripke's Contributions to Philosophy

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Daniel Kahneman is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Policy at Princeton University. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for joint work with Amos Tversky in which they revealed the biases and heuristics with which humans operate, thereby deviating from the rationality presumed by economic theory at the time. Among this and many other awards, Danny was also given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barrack Obama. While Danny is likely best known outside of psychology for his book Thinking Fast and Slow, he and Robinson discuss his latest a book, co-authored with Olivier Simony and Cass Sunstein, called Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, which concerns the astonishingly prevalent and damaging variability inherent in human judgment.

Noise: https://a.co/d/hbKBQKD

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:55 Introduction

06:16 Danny’s Childhood

11:23 The Difference Between Noise and Bias

16:21 Some Themes from Noise

18:57 Noise in the Judicial System

32:36 Noise in the Medical System

37:59 The Difficulty of Spotting Noise

39:58 Psychology and the Descriptive, Prescriptive, and Normative

43:14 Decision Hygiene for Reducing Bias and Noise in Judgment

54:32 Limiting Intuitions to Improve Decision-Making

01:00:38 Understanding Regression to the Mean

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

John Burgess is John N. Woodhull Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, where he works in mathematical and philosophical logic and the philosophy of mathematics. In this episode, Robinson and John discuss realism in the philosophy of mathematics, and while the nature of this question is itself disputed, it can be roughly described as concerning the extent to which we should be committed to the mind-independent truth of mathematical theorems, or to the existence of the objects they apparently describe. Robinson and John begin by addressing the nuances of this question, and they then turn to various developments in mathematics that have been historically associated with realism—set theory, in particular—as well as specific philosophical positions associated with realism (such as Platonism) and anti-realism (such as conventionalism). John’s most recent book is Set Theory (Cambridge, 2022).

Set Theory: https://a.co/d/cF305wf

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:22 Introduction

03:17 Mathematics or Philosophy?

08:06 What is Realism in the Philosophy of Mathematics?

14:11 Objectivity and Mathematics

24:34 What Is Set Theory?

47:29 Platonism and the Continuum Problem

01:15:42 Conventionalism

01:22:06 Finitism

01:31:17 A Cap on Infinity?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Brian Keating is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences at UC San Diego, host of the Into the Impossible Podcast, an expert on the cosmic microwave background, and the author of a number of books.  Robinson and Brian discuss the expansion and inflation of the universe, the relationship between theory and experiment in cosmology, gravitational waves, Brian’s brainchild the BICEP experiment, and a lot more. Brian’s most recent book is Into the Impossible (2021), which is a distillation of many of his conversations with Nobel Laureates and other brilliant thinkers.

Brian’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 

Into the Impossible Podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/into-the-impossible 

Brian’s Mailing List: briankeating.com/list

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:02 Introduction

03:30 Brian the Builder

10:59 The Theory of Cosmological Expansion?

27:08 The Origins of Inflation

34:15 On Theory and Experiment in Astrophysics

44:27 On Gravitational Waves and Inflation

1:01:40 BICEP Tech Specs

1:14:54 What Did BICEP Find?

1:29:26 The Simons Array

1:32:50 On Eric Weinstein’s Theory of Everything

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Havi Carel is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol, where she studies illness and its relationship to philosophy. Her research draws largely on phenomenology, a philosophical approach most closely associated with the Continental tradition of philosophy, and that relies heavily on perception and experience. In this episode Robinson and Havi discuss her own illness, LAM, and how it affects her own work, along with many other topics related to illness, such as Freud, mental health, and breathlessness.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:24 Introduction

03:31 LAM and Illness

08:14 Continental Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy, and Phenomenology

22:12 Illness, Sickness, and Disease

26:36 Limitations of Writing on Phenomenology and Illness

42:34 Illness and Philosophy

51:03 Freud and the Phenomenology of Illness

56:41 Breathing and Breathlessness

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia, and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, as is the second guest. Barry Loewer is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers. Before that he did his PhD in philosophy at Stanford (!). Barry works largely in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science, and metaphysics. This is Barry’s second time on the show—in episode 83 he and Robinson discusses probability and laws of nature, both of which come up in this episode. This is David’s sixth (!) appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. He appeared on episode #23 with Justin Clarke-Doane on metaethics and absolute space, episode #30 on the philosophy of time, episode #67 with Tim Maudlin on the foundations of quantum theory, episode #106 with Sean Carroll on Many-Worlds and fine-tuning, and episode #157 on the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Robinson, Barry, and David talk about the Mentaculus, their joint project on the foundations of statistical mechanics, which provides a guide for how to think of and solve problems involving probability, determinism, free will, cosmology, time, and more. A book Barry, Brad Weslake, and Eric Winsberg have edited on essays concerning David’s book, Time and Chance, called The Probability Map of the Universe (Harvard, 2023), came out around this time last year, and the link is in the description.

The Probability Map of the Universe: https://a.co/d/4XoYTMY

A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:41 Introduction

04:23 The Mentaculus

07:08 Chance, Probability, and Determinism

29:52 What Is the Mentaculus?

46:37 The Mentaculus, Thermodynamics, and Time’s Arrows

01:18:51 The Quantum Arrow of Time

01:30:34 On Tim Maudlin and the Arrow of Time

01:36:30 Can We Time Travel to the Future

01:44:22 Free Will and Statistical Mechanics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. Michael was also a guest on episode 180, where he and Robinson discussed neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, and the rentier economy. In this episode we continue the discussion, focusing on his book Killing the Host (ISLET, 2015). More particularly, they discuss the rhythm of debt and economic crashes, the role of history in the study of economics, the history of debt cancellation, Marxism, economic parasites, and how to heal ailing economies. Michael’s most recent book is The Collapse of Antiquity (ISLET, 2023).

Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com

The Collapse of Antiquity: https://a.co/d/0TMt9Sh

Killing the Host: https://a.co/d/fG2wD19

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

02:29 The Rhythm of Debt and Economic Crashes

8:27 The Role of History in Economic Thought

17:09 The Fascinating History of Debt Cancellation 

25:52 Aristotle, Plato, and The Cancellation of Debt

31:49 Ancient Greece and the Cancellation of Debt

41:10 The Problems with Today’s Neoliberal Economics

45:29 On Karl Marx and Marxism

47:21 The Lord’s Prayer, Christianity, and Debt Cancellation

56:34 FIRE and Economic Parasites

1:07:13 How Does Wall Street Parasitize the Government?

1:09:57 Are We Hosts for Economic Parasites?

1:19:32 What’s Wrong With Austerity Measures for Economic Crashes?

1:21:39 Preventing Economic Parasites from Sucking the Country Dry

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Christopher Capozzola is Professor of History and MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT, where he works on the history of citizenship, war, and the military in modern American history. In this episode, Robinson and Chris discuss his first book, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen (Oxford, 2008). More particularly, they talk about the background of the famous Uncle Sam “I Want You!” image and its status as a piece of propaganda, how it functioned in the United States during World War I, the domestic reception and consequences of the draft, and how patriotism resulted in violent vigilante justice. Chris’s latest book is Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America’s First Pacific Century.

Uncle Sam Wants You: https://a.co/d/gBodfCL

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:04 Introduction

03:50 History as Narrative

08:01 Teaching History at MIT

12:21 Chris’s Interest in American History

14:42 The Origin and Purpose of Uncle Sam

32:48 Political Obligation and the Draft in World War I

45:06 History and Unwritten Facts

50:07 Draft Dodgers, Conscientious Objectors, and Vigilantes in WWI

01:04:35 Historians, Philosophers, and Political Obligation

01:16:50 How World War I Was Caused by Bad Leaders

01:23:01 Free Speech During and After the War

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Tim is renowned as one of the leading philosophers of physics, and he also works in the philosophy of science and metaphysics. This is Tim’s fourth appearance on the show. Tim was also a guest on episode 46 (laws of nature, space, and free will), episode 67 with David Albert (the foundations of quantum mechanics), and episode 115 with Craig Callender (the philosophy of time). In this episode, Robinson and Tim dig into some of the crucial developments in the philosophy of science that took place during the 20th century. Then they move on to John Bell and the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:41 Introduction

04:56 What’s the Point of Philosophy of Science?

10:38 Carnap and Logical Positivism

26:30 Thomas Kuhn and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions

42:52 What is Scientific Realism?

01:02:44 Instrumentalism and Scientific Anti-Realism

01:06:08 Who Was John Bell?

01:20:15 Einstein, Quantum Mechanics, and Bell’s Inequality

01:45:34 The John Bell Institute

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Graham Winn-Lee is Robinson’s best friend. Though that is how he likes to introduce himself, Graham is also an artist, graphic designer, and crocheting enthusiast with a lifelong passion for competitive dog grooming. This episode is exclusively about Robinson and Graham's respective post-apocalyptic fantasies and related feelings about zombies, dragons, and other pertinent creatures.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch: @robinsonerhardt

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is also the host of Sean Carroll’s Mindscape, a podcast about science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas. This is Sean’s fourth appearance on the show. He appeared with David Albert of Columbia University on episode 106, which covers the Many-Worlds theory of quantum mechanics, Boltzmann Brains, and the fine-tuned universe. He was also on episode 118 with Slavoj Žižek on quantum physics, the multiverse, time travel, and a whole lot more, and then episode 200 with Daniel Dennett and Steven Pinker on AI, parapsychology, and consciousness. This episode is coming out in advance of Sean’s next book, Quanta and Fields: The Biggest Ideas in the Universe (Penguin, 2024), which will be released on May 14, 2024. Sean and Robinson discuss many of the topics and themes of Quanta and Fields, including the books’ namesake subjects, as well as more decides, like scientific realism, free will, the simulation hypothesis, and the end of physics. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Sean’s Website: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com

Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll

Quanta and Fields (The Biggest Ideas in the Universe): https://a.co/d/gfMDLQo

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

5:00 The Biggest Ideas in the Universe

9:38 Do Physicists Understand Physics?

15:51 What Is the Role of Philosophers in Physics?

18:24 The Measurement Problem and Quantum Field Theory

20:24 Scientific Realism and the Standard Model of Particle Physics

25:11 What Is the Wave Function?

34:46 What Is Quantum Field Theory?

37:45 What Is the Fundamental Layer of Reality?

41:01 What Is the Standard Model of Particle Physics?

45:42 What Are the Fundamental Objects in the Standard Model of Particle Physics?

47:39 How Do We Test the Standard Model of Particle Physics?

49:38 What Are the Weaknesses of the Standard Model of Particle Physics?

54:41 Will We Ever Find a Theory of Everything?

56:19 Is String Theory the Final Theory of Physics?

58:14 String theory and the Fine-Tuning Problem

01:00:18 Is Quantum Gravity the End of Progress in Physics?

01:06:12 What is Philosophical Naturalism?

01:08:05 On Naturalized Epistemology

01:10:24 On the Philosophy of Mathematics

01:19:08 On Naturalizing Morality

01:22:33 The Myths of Quantum Entanglement

01:29:53 Is There Only One Electron?

01:34:09 Are Atoms Mostly Empty Space?

01:36:51 Are We Living in a Simulation?

01:39:58 Is Infinity a Problem for Quantum Mechanics? 

01:41:59 The Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between. 

Graham Priest is a Distinguished Professor in the philosophy department at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is one of the most influential living philosophers, and has done important work on a wide range of topics, ranging from the philosophy of mathematics (his doctorate is in mathematics from the London School of Economics) to logic and eastern philosophy. In this episode, Robinson and Graham discuss the metaphysics of nothingness and non-being, touching on—among other things—Zen Buddhism, Quine’s conception of ontological commitment, impossible worlds, and why there’s something rather than nothing.

(00:00) Introduction 

(04:59) Graham's Path to Philosophy 

(08:45) On Analytic and Continental Philosophy 

(17:33) On Quine 

(27:23) Quine, Quantifiers, and What There Is 

(41:51) On Nonexistent Objects 

(47:02) Noneism and the Philosophy of Mathematics 

(01:14:14) On Impossible Worlds 

(01:24:35) Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? 

(01:30:55) Zen, Buddhism, and Nothingness 

(01:46:36) The Nyāya Philosophy of Nothingness 

(01:52:59) Graham's Interest in Eastern Philosophy

(02:01:04) Philosophy as World-Building 

(02:05:36) Sylvan's Box 

(02:10:06) Zen and How to Live One's Life 

(02:20:28) Zen on Mind and Language

(02:30:08) The Basics of Buddhist Ethics 

(02:52:08) Graham the Martial Artist

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitter: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt

YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Nancy Sherman is Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. Before that, she taught at Yale and did her graduate work in ancient philosophy at Harvard University. Nancy has worked broadly across value theory and ancient philosophy, writing on such varied topics as military ethics, moral psychology, the emotions, and Stoicism. The occasion for this episode is Nancy’s recent book, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience (Oxford, 2021), which is now available in paperback, and linked below. Nancy and Robinson discuss what contemporary takes on Stoicism get wrong—they miss the emphasis on connection and community—as well as the relationship between Stoicism and Aristotle, the military, and mental health.

Stoic Wisdom: https://a.co/d/7UAGj8i

Nancy’s Website: https://www.nancysherman.com

Nancy’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/drnancysherman

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode

00:44 Introduction

03:20 Nancy’s Interest in Stoicism and the Military

10:35 Stoicism and Life Hacks

21:00 Aristotelian and Stoic Ethics

30:05 Stoic Metaethics

34:33 Stoicism and War

45:19 Stoicism and Military Education

51:57 Nancy’s Mental Health Experience

59:43 Stoic Wisdom

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Raphael Bousso is the Chancellor’s Chair in Physics at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, where he leads the Bousso Group in research on quantum gravity and quantum information. He is a renowned string theorist famous also for his development of the string theoretic landscape and the Bousso bound in holography. In this episode, Robinson and Raphael discuss the groundbreaking work of Jacob Bekenstein, Stephen Hawking, Leonard Susskind, Gerard ’t Hooft, and others on the black hole information paradox. They then turn to how this led to the formulation of the holographic principle, which has had profound implications for research on quantum gravity, especially for Raphael himself, who has recently been working on quantum information theory, quantum communication, and other ways in which classical gravity “knows about” and encodes its own quantum states. 

The Bousso Group: https://lightsheet.berkeley.edu

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

04:14 Working with Leonard Susskind and Stephen Hawking

6:29 Why Do Physicists Care About Black Holes?

19:11 Do Black Holes have a Temperature?

23:51 How Cold is a Black Hole?

27:32 The Black Hole Information Paradox

41:31 Do Black Holes Mean Quantum Mechanics Must be Thrown Out?

47:09 Black Hole Complementarity and Holography

54:09 What Is Quantum Gravity?

01:01:15 Why is Quantum Gravity a Low Energy Problem?

01:06:54 The Bottom-Up Approach to Quantum Gravity

1:11:12 On String Theory and Holography

01:16:00 What Are Bousso Bounds?

01:22:58 Is Gravity a Quantum Error-Correcting Code?

01:32:09 Is Gravity a Fundamental Force? 

01:37:25 On String Theory and the Multiverse

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between. 

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is Tim’s seventh appearance on the show. He last appeared on episode 237 for a masterclass on Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, explaining it from the ground up and elucidating some common misconceptions. In this episode Tim returns for a discussion of another of Einstein’s major impacts on physics: his theory of general relativity. More particularly, Tim and Robinson discuss black holes, time, paradoxes of distance, Penrose diagrams, figures like Leonard Susskind and Richard Feynman, the curvature of space, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

00:00:42 An Extended Prelude

00:05:08 Naming Names

00:10:02 The Difference Between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity

00:13:46 Einstein on General Relativity and Metric

00:27:21 More on Coordinates

00:40:26 A Novel Coordinate System

00:46:25 What Is Special Relativity?

00:50:30 The Conflict Between Quantum Theory and Relativity

01:02:00 Doing Physics with Geometry

01:12:38 Geometry and Special Relativity

01:30:20 More on Geometry and Relativity

01:36:19 Lorentz Frames

01:46:56 Simultaneity

02:02:03 John Bell and Special Relativity

02:11:00 Paradoxes of Distance

02:22:12 A Penrose Diagram

02:27:47 Introducing General Relativity

02:32:23 The Most Important Experiment About Gravity 

02:45:52 Changing the Geometry of Spacetime

02:55:28 Curvature of Space

03:02:03 Be Careful with Diagrams in Science 

03:05:45 The Basic Idea of General Relativity

03:10:23 The Equivalence Principle

03:19:40 Clocks and Gravity

03:28:09 Richard Feynman on General Relativity

03:37:00 The Cosmological Constant

03:41:56 What Are Black Holes?

03:50:45 What Steven Weinberg Got Wrong About General Relativity 

04:01:01 Black Holes and the Centrifugal Force Paradox

04:06:32 Curved Black Holes and Gödel Spacetime

04:19:34 The John Bell Institute

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Ned Block is Silver Professor at New York University in the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, where he works on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of neuroscience, and cognitive science. In this episode, Robinson and Ned discuss some of the titans he studied under, ChatGPT and the nature of artificial intelligence, the Turing Test, androids, consciousness, the connection between seeing and thinking, blindsight, change blindness, and more. Ned’s most recent book is The Border Between Seeing and Thinking (OUP, 2023).

Ned’s Website: https://www.nedblock.us

The Border Between Seeing and Thinking: https://a.co/d/fqVb7gj

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

00:53 Ned’s Entry into Philosophy of Mind

02:08 On Hilary Putnam, John Rawls, and Philippa Foot

08:10 Can ChatGPT Do Multiplication?

10:57 Does Noam Chomsky Understand ChatGPT?

13:11 Is the Turing Test Completely Wrong?

17:52 On Daniel Dennett

23:46 On Michael Graziano and the Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness

26:03 Are Animals Conscious?

30:51 Does ChatGPT Pass the Turing Test?

36:53 Mary in the White Room

41:16 The Blockhead Thought Experiment

45:53 How to Show that ChatGPT Is Dumb

48:51 Why Can’t ChatGPT Reason About Images?

51:48 How to Create an Android

55:10 What Is Thought?

1:00:13 Susan Carey

1:03:19 Are There Different Kinds of Consciousness?

1:05:10 On Psychoanalysis

1:06:08 What Are Blindsight and Change Blindness?

1:11:38 The Difference Between Seeing and Thinking

1:16:03 Was Helen Keller Conscious?

1:18:39 Are Salmon Conscious?

1:20:58 What Are the Dominant Theories of Consciousness?

1:27:35 Do We Know What Consciousness Is?

1:31:25 Functionalism and Mental Properties

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Michael Harris is a mathematician at Columbia University, where he primarily works on number theory. He did his undergraduate studies at Princeton and received his PhD from Harvard. Professor Harris and I discuss the tragic figure of Alexander Grothendieck, the allure of number theory, mathematics as an intrinsically human endeavor, creativity in mathematics, and the relationship between mathematicians and computers, including whether the former will ever replace the latter.  

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

Ronnie is Robinson’s father. They talk about ketchup and how collecting creates order in a chaotic life.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

Ken Olum is Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Tufts University, where he works on exotic physics and topics in cosmology like cosmic strings, gravitational waves, anthropic reasoning, and inflation. In this episode, Robinson and Ken talk all about cosmic strings, which are spindly, hypothesized astronomical objects of intense mass and energy that may have been created in the earliest periods of the universe.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:27 Introduction

03:00  Exotic Astrophysics and NANOGrav

16:19  What Are Cosmic Strings?

37:14 String Theory and the Multiverse

42:34 Details About Cosmic Strings

48:46 How Can We Detect Cosmic Strings?

01:00:03 Travel Within the Multiverse

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Spiegel is Willson Professor of Medicine and Associate Chair of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. He did his undergraduate work at Yale and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. David is highly regarded as one of the most creative psychiatrists in the field, and has worked on a wide array of topics within the discipline. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss his pioneering work in hypnotherapy, as David is the world’s leading hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy researcher. More particularly, they discuss the origins of hypnotherapy, its relationship to hypnosis in popular culture, how therapeutic interventions fare compare to pharmaceutical interventions for mental illness, how hypnosis treats mental disorders, and how self-hypnosis can be a useful tool in everyone’s mental health arsenal. David is also the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Reveri, which is a groundbreaking self-hypnosis application for your smartphone that can guide you through a wide variety of modules to help improve sleep, anxiety, eating habits and many other facets of life.

Reveri: https://www.reveri.com

Trance & Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis: https://a.co/d/0lLXoU2

OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

4:24 David’s Start in Hypnotherapy

10:28 Hypnotherapy’s Rising Popularity

16:46 Therapy Versus Medication?

23:50 PTSD, MDMA, and Hypnosis

30:37 What Is Hypnotherapy?

36:05 Hypnosis and Comedic Gags

39:24 Are You Hypnotizable

59:31 Is Hypnotherapy Supported by Research?

01:04:41 Can Hypnosis Treat Eating Disorders?

01:09:20 Hypnosis, Restructuring, Psychopathy, and Understanding the Self

01:15:32 Reveri and Self-Hypnosis

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Brian Leiter is Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School, founder and Director of Chicago’s Center for Law, Philosophy & Human Values, and is best known in the philosophical world for his work on Nietzsche and legal philosophy. He is the founding editor of the Routledge Philosophers book series, Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Law, and Philosophical Gourmet Report, which is the canonical—as well as extremely helpful and illuminating—ranking of philosophy departments and PhD programs in the English-speaking world. He also maintains the world’s most popular philosophy blog, Leiter Reports. Brian was also a guest on episode 97, where he and Robinson discussed Karl Marx, ideology, and historical materialism, but in this episode they talk about Friedrich Nietzsche’s moral psychology and his criticism of morality. Among the topics they discuss are The Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science, moral realism and anti-realism, moral psychology, and Nietzsche’s thoughts on free will. Brian’s latest book is Moral Psychology with Nietzsche (Oxford, 2021).

Brian’s Website: https://www.brianleiter.net

Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianLeiter

Leiter Reports: https://leiterreports.typepad.com

Moral Psychology with Nietzsche: https://a.co/d/3dJZBeZ

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:04 Introduction

02:14 Who Was Friedrich Nietzsche?

10:50 Naturalism in Nietzsche’s Moral Psychology

20:24 Nietzsche and the Death of God

28:36 Nietzsche and Moral Anti-Realism

40:32 Did Nietzsche Believe in Free Will?

47:43  Nietzsche and the Genealogy of Morals

01:11:50 The Main Takeaways from Nietzsche’s Moral Philosophy

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Robert Sapolsky is John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor and Professor of Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at Stanford University. He’s also a best-selling author and one of the leading voices in the current—and enduring—debate over free will. In this conversation, Robinson and Robert discuss his latest book, Determined (Penguin, 2023), and the many arguments it contains against free will, and how, if we don’t have it, we ought to change many of our social institutions, like the carceral system, that operate on the assumption that people are free, morally responsible agents. 

Determined: https://a.co/d/g7n5fPj

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:34 Introduction

3:08 Turtles and the Illusion of Free Will

9:35 The Neuroscience of Denial

12:55 What Is Free Will and Why Don’t We Have It?

21:08 What Is Physical Determinism?

23:15 Chaos Theory, Complexity, and Free Will

34:08 Quantum Bullshit 

39:53 Quantum Mechanics and Free Will 

47:59 Does Consciousness Give Us Free Will?

58:12 Fear, Disgust, and Free Will

1:05:46 What Primatology Tells Us About Free Will

1:08:09 The Limbic System and Free Will

1:13:14 Does Testosterone Undermine Free Will?

1:19:45 How Does the Womb Determine Who We Are?

1:24:32 How Is Free Will Connected to Weight Loss? 

1:31:05 How Does Skepticism About Free Will Impact Behavior? 

1:36:51 If There Is No Free Will, What Should We Do With Prisons? 

1:45:32 What Is Funishment?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented the National Humanities Medal in 2007. In this episode, Robinson and Victor discuss his latest book, The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation (Basic Book, 2024), which was released on May 7th. More particularly, they cover the historical connection between annihilation and genocide, how we should interpret the past through today’s moral standards, genocides in the present, and the likelihood of World War III. Victor appeared as a guest on episode #112, in which he and Robinson talked about what was at the time Victor’s latest book, The Dying Citizen. He was also a guest on episode #191, which covered Victor’s views on the current crisis in Israel and Palestine. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show. 

Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com

Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson

The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show 

The Dying Citizen: https://a.co/d/dPocUJg

The End of Everything: https://a.co/d/46O0mMB

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:41 On Annihilation, Extinction, and Genocide

09:31 What Causes Genocide?

16:38 The Applicability of Military Strategy to Everyday Life

24:00 On Alexander the Great

36:26 Should We Judge the People of the Past by the Moral Standards of the Present?

44:29 Uyghurs, Jews, and Genocides of the Present

50:45 What Are the Biggest Existential Threats to America?

59:28 Is World War III on the Horizon?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Neil Shubin is Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. In addition to actively leading research expeditions across the globe, Neil runs the Shubin Lab, where genetic, kinematic, and paleontologic work combine to investigate some of the major transitions in evolution. In this episode, Robinson and Neil discuss some of these transitions, including the importance of the Devonian and Triassic Periods, how fish moved from water to land, and how early terrestrial environments accommodated them. Neil’s most recent book is Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA (Random House, 2020). 

The Shubin Lab: https://shubinlab.uchicago.edu

Neil’s Twitter: https://shubinlab.uchicago.edu

Some Assembly Required: https://a.co/d/dnZMuSl

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:39 Introduction

03:25 What Is Evolutionary Biology? 

12:59 On The importance of the Devonian Period

20:39 Searching Antarctica for Fish Fossils

31:50 How Did Fish Become People? 

54:43 Genetics and Kinematics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s third appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism, and in #154 installment, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the current—and enduring—Israel-Palestine conflict, with particular emphasis on how, with his Marxist training and background, Richard understands it from that perspective. Some particular questions discussed are how class figures into the conflict, whether ideology plays any pernicious roles, whether Israel should be considered a refugee state, why pro-Palestinian views are suppressed in the United States, and how Marx might have attempted to adjudicate the conflict.

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:37 Introduction

04:19 Israel-Palestine and the Marxist Perspective 

11:33 Is Israel a Colonial State or a Refugee State? 

16:45 Some Important Marxist Distinctions in Israel and Palestine 

25:09 Israel as a Project of Colonialist Capitalism 

41:50 Ideology and the Perpetuation of the Israel-Palestine Disaster 

01:01:03 Warfare and the Horrors of Israel-Palestine 

01:07:43 The Suppression of Opposition to Israel in the United States 

01:19:15 The Marxist Solution to the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Contrary to popular belief, Demitrios Haldes (@infinitemonkeybusiness) is neither the last scion of Herakles nor the superintendent of a crayon factory, but a comic illustrator and writer. He and Robinson eat ice cream and talk about it while they eat it.

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Twitch: @robinsonerhardt

Mark Solms is professor of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town. He is also a psychoanalyst, and while Mark’s early research focused on the brain mechanisms of sleep and dreaming, he is currently working on the neural correlates of consciousness and affect. In this episode, Robinson and Mark talk about his new book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. More particularly, they discuss the hard problem of consciousness and how recent advances in neuroscience have pointed toward a solution.

The Hidden Spring: https://a.co/d/jcvbmLw

Mark’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mark_Solms

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:47 Introduction

03:09 What is Neuropsychoanalysis?

11:54 Was Freud a Neuroscientist?

26:17 What is the Hard Problem of Consciousness?

36:24 What is the Relationship between Dreaming and Consciousness?

54:44 Patients without a Cortex

01:03:01 Does Consciousness Have a Purpose?

01:14:53 Daniel Dennett and Karl Friston

01:24:49 Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Pamela Hieronymi is Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. Before that, she did her undergraduate studies at Princeton and received her PhD from Harvard. Her work extends in a variety of directions, but some areas she works in include moral psychology, the philosophy of mind, ethics, and the philosophy of action. In this episode, she and Robinson discuss free will and moral responsibility, the topic of an upcoming book entitled Minds that Matter. Pamela begins by introducing moral psychology and the role of analytic philosophy in the debate over free will. Then she and Robinson discuss the extent to which we control our actions and thoughts, and how all of this relates to the question of moral responsibility. Pamela’s most recent book is Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals (Princeton University Press, 2020).

Pamela’s Website: https://hieronymi.humspace.ucla.edu

OUTLINE:

00:00 In This Episode…

00:35 Introduction

04:40 - What is Moral Psychology?

06:30 - Agency and Analytic Philosophy

17:57 - Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Determinism

21:57 - Control Over Thought and Environment

32:46 - Some Shortcomings of Other Accounts

35:50 - Kant and the Two-Standpoints View of Free Will

49:22 - Do We Control Our Beliefs?

54:33 -  Free Will and Moral Responsibility

1:11:16 - How Should We Act?

Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Brad Schoenfeld is Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Heath Promotion and Nutrition Sciences at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York, where he serves as the graduate director the Human Performance and Fitness Program. Brad is one of the foremost—if not the foremost—authorities on human muscular development, and author of the textbook Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy. In this episode, Robinson and Brad talk first about the foundations of hypertrophy on a theoretical level (what makes muscles grow) before moving on to some applications of these principles in the gym.

Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy: https://a.co/d/fRoyKDb

Brad’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BradSchoenfeld

Brad’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradschoenfeldphd/?hl=en

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:11 Introduction

07:31 Muscular Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia

15:24 Applicability of Animal Studies

17:42 Satellite Cells

24:10 Three Factors of Muscle Growth

33:39 The Most Important Gym Variables for Maximizing Muscle Growth

44:32 Muscle Stress

50:07 Muscle Action and Range of Motion

58:20 New Frontiers

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s eighth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #243, he and Robinson discussed 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. In this episode, they continue the discussion by diving deeper into recent events, Doge, Elon Musk, the relationship between Trump and Hitler, and important historical Marxists. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).

Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:27 What Do Trump and Hitler Have in Common?

00:09:42 Is This the Democratic Party’s Worst Crisis?

00:14:58 Is Trump’s Economic Policy a Hail Mary?

00:26:29 The Mexican Deportation Crisis

00:30:19 Global Retaliation Against American Tariffs

00:33:29 America’s Big Mistake with Russian Sanctions

00:40:50 Trump’s Big TikTok Mistake

00:47:05 How Adolf Hitler Came to Power in Germany

01:08:40 Does Elon Musk Symbolize the End of America?

01:16:07 How Bosses Lie When They Fire You

01:23:08 On Elon Musk’s Chainsaw Public Relations Disaster

01:28:52 On the Drowning American Empire

01:34:36 On Elon Musk and the Self-Destruction of Tesla

01:39:27 Feudalism, Communism, and the Death of Capitalism

01:46:22 Does China Represent a New Breed of Capitalism?

01:55:16 What Can the United States Do to Beat China?

02:03:46 What Makes Mao an Important Marxist?

02:17:56 Richard Wolff’s Mediocre Ivy League Education

02:23:59 How Mao Made the China of Today

02:40:39 The Myth of European Global Dominance

02:52:08 On Antonio Gramsci and Mussolini

02:57:03 Why Is Gramsci One of the Great Marxists?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Leonard Susskind is Felix Block Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Along with other accomplishments, he is among the fathers of such revolutionary concepts in physics as string theory, black hole complementarity, the holographic principle, and the string-theoretic landscape. He was also the guest on episode #217, where he and Robinson discussed the fine-tuning problem and the physics of the multiverse. In this episode, Leonard and Robinson get into another topic—black holes and the information paradox. More particularly, they talk about important figures like Stephen Hawking and Gerard ’t Hooft, singularities, chaos, whether the cosmos is a hologram, the end of the universe, and more. For further details, check out Leonard’s book on the title: The Black Hole War (Back Bay Books, 2009).

The Black Hole War: https://a.co/d/3eTOHoZ

The Theoretical Minimum: https://theoreticalminimum.com

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

05:21 Black Holes and the War Between Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

11:18 Is The Singularity at the Heart of a Black Hole Real?

21:51 Demystifying the Puzzle of Quantum Information

28:27 What Does The Famous Phrase “It From Bit” Mean?

38:47 Can Information Be Stored on the Surface of a Black Hole?

47:11 Was Stephen Hawking a Good Physicist?

56:21 How Will The Universe End?

1:00:49 What Is the Black Hole Information Paradox?

1:10:47 What Is the Holographic Principle?

1:20:01 How Leonard Susskind Won the Black Hole War Against Stephen Hawking

1:25:09 What Is the Infamous AdS/CFT Correspondence?

1:32:29 Is Physics in a Deep Crisis?

1:39:29 Are String and M-Theory Totally Wrong?

1:43:05 Is String Theory the Theory of Everything?

1:47:43 Is String Theory a Failure?

1:50:15 Does Our World Have Extra Dimensions?

1:53:34 Could Our World Be a Hologram?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also the Chair and Founding Director of the Science Studios at Pioneer Works. In this episode, Robinson and Janna talk all about black holes and how to survive them. More particularly, they discuss how black holes were discovered both theoretically and empirically, common misconceptions about black holes, their role in theories of quantum gravity, and how they do and will contribute to both the life and death of the universe. If you’d like to learn more about black holes, read Janna’s latest book, Black Hole Survival Guide (Anchor, 2022). Janna’s Website: https://jannalevin.com Black Hole Survival Guide: https://a.co/d/biGGqZc Pioneer Works: https://pioneerworks.org OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 06:10 The Original Theory of Black Holes 14:45 Is There Gravity in Space? 20:40 Just What IS a Black Hole? 38:47 Why Physicists Resisted the Possibility of Black Holes 50:44 What’s at the Center of a Black Hole? 55:34 What Happens When Something Falls into a Black Hole? 1:03:23 Is Leonard Susskind a Genius Physicist? 1:12:07 What Is the Fine-Tuning Problem? 1:17:52 How Close Can You Get to a Black Hole and Still Survive? 1:25:10 Why Are Black Holes Perfect Objects? 1:32:12 How Do Black Holes Form? 1:41:31 What Will Happen to the Sun When It Dies? 1:50:38 Black Holes, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe 1:54:45 The Heat Death of the Universe 1:59:18 Pioneer Works Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s second appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism. In this installment, they focus on Marx himself, including Karl Marx’s background, his most important views, what he wrote and didn’t write, and some of the common—and potentially devastating—criticisms of Marxism.

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

The Sickness is the System: https://a.co/d/jf5w5wy

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:22 Introduction

03:55 Who Was Karl Marx?

32:15 Karl Marx, Armchair Intellectual?

37:40 Answering Karl Marx’s Critics

50:38 Is Karl Marx Responsible for the Communist Genocides?

01:14:09 Marxism and The World Economy of Today

01:17:53 Is Socialism a Monolith? Does Marxism Evolve?

01:25:13 On Marxism and Mass Death

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Richard Kimberly Heck has been a professor of philosophy at Brown University since 2005, at which time they left their post at Harvard, where they had taught for over a decade. On the way to receiving their PhD in philosophy and linguistics at MIT, they studied at Duke and Oxford. While Professor Heck’s primary research focus has been logic and Frege, over the past few years they have shifted to the philosophy of sex and pornography. Among other topics, Robinson and Riki discuss this transition, along with the difficulties of studying pornography as an academic, the subject's aesthetic dimension, and the transformative power of queer pornography.  

Instagram: @robinsonerhardt

Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented the National Humanities Medal in 2007. In this episode, Robinson and Victor discuss his latest book, The Dying Citizen. More particularly, they talk about the Ancient Greek origin of a flourishing egalitarian society centered around the notion of citizenship, the way this history has been subverted and recast, the perils of judging the past through the lens of the present, how citizenship is threatened in the United States today, and the nature of human progress. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show. 

Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com

Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson

The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show 

The Dying Citizen: https://a.co/d/dPocUJg

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:18 Introduction

04:10 The Dying Classics

10:28 Ancient Greece and the Perils of Revisionist History

20:55 Don’t Judge the Past Against the Present

24:32 The Difference between Citizens and Residents

40:04 The Importance of Citizenship

47:37 On Our Obsession with Inequality

51:23 Is Humankind Making Progress?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Robinson’s Fashion Empire: http://bit.ly/3XBKqO2

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. In this episode, Norman and Robinson sit down for a discussion centered around the anniversary of October 7th, and they speak about the immensity of what has happened in the Israel-Palestine region in the time before and since. Norman also appeared on episode 192, where he and Robinson discussed allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hamas and Hezbollah, and connections between the war and the Holocaust. Norman was also featured on episode 218, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:44 Why Norman Couldn’t Have Predicted October 7th

00:04:45 Gaza’s Last Victim

00:07:55 Is the Palestine Question Dead?

00:11:13 What Hamas in Gaza and American Slave Rebellions Have in Common

00:17:22 How the Nakba Created Gaza in 1948

00:21:21 Is Gaza a Concentration Camp?

00:25:20 High-Tech Israeli Killing Sprees in Gaza

00:29:23 The Butcher of Beirut & The Sabra and Shatila Massacre

00:31:20 On the First Intifada and the Silencing of Gaza

00:37:11 On Hassan Nasrallah, Leader of Hezbollah

00:41:59 How Israel Will Destroy Hezbollah

00:42:35 Israel Vs The Party of God

00:45:32 On the Courage of Dying for a Cause

00:48:24 On His Time with Hezbollah and Nasrallah

00:52:41 Noam Chomsky on Hezbollah’s Threat to Israel

00:56:30 On Nasrallah’s Prophetic Speech Before His Assassination

01:02:10 On Martin Luther King Jr’s Final Words

01:04:35 On Nasrallah and the Assassination of Pro-Palestine Leaders

01:07:08 The Parallel Between American Slaves and Gazan Palestinians

01:12:37 Will the Gazans Be Emancipated like American Blacks from Slavery?

01:19:16 Norman’s Big Question for Noam Chomsky

01:21:26 The Question of Gaza as a Concentration Camp

01:23:03 The Crushing Toll of the Holocaust on Norman

01:32:08 On His Mother, Piers Morgan, and Gaza as a Holocaust

01:34:14 On the Rise of Hamas

01:38:49 On Hamas, Nasrallah, and the Sealed Fate of Gaza

01:41:36 Does Israel Have the Right to Commit Genocide?

01:45:48 Does Israel Intentionally Murder Innocent Civilians?

01:50:10 Just How Brutal Are Israel’s High Tech Military Operations?

01:54:09 On Gandhi’s Meditations in Jail

01:56:07 Does Israel Go on Killing Sprees in Palestine?

01:58:43 Are the Leaders of Hamas Rich Billionaires?

02:04:43 Comparing Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto

02:09:33 The Absurdity of Gaza’s Economy

02:15:11 What Was Hamas’s Intentions on October 7th?

02:18:14 Did Hamas Commit Sexual Violence Against Israelis on October 7th?

02:24:07 On Israel’s Violent Revenge Against Hamas

02:26:50 Has Israel Restored Its Fearsome Reputation in the Middle East?

02:30:34 Has Israel Exterminated Gaza?

02:36:31 The Bottom Line on Israel and the Desolation of Gaza

02:39:39 Will There Be a Ceasefire in Gaza?

02:43:58 Why Does Israel Always Win?

02:52:40 On Philosophy, Chattel Slavery, and Justice in Palestine

02:58:02 On Justice and Norman Finkelstein’s Purpose in Life

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and Director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia. David is a prior guest of the Robinson’s Podcast multiverse, having appeared on episodes #23 (with Justin Clarke-Doane), #30, and #67 (with Tim Maudlin). Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is also host of Sean Carroll’s Mindscape, a terrific show (that influenced the birth of Robinson’s Podcast ) about science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas. Sean also had a great conversation with David on Mindscape, linked below. Both David and Sean are rare breeds—philosophers who are physicists, and physicists who are philosophers—and in this episode Robinson, David, and Sean speak about some of the philosophical concerns at the foundations of physics. They first discuss the Many-Worlds theory of quantum mechanics before turning to the apparent fine-tuning of our universe for life and the possibility of Boltzmann Brains, or complex observers in the universe that arise spontaneously due to quantum fluctuations or the random motion of matter.

Preorder David’s A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/4MUEJZN

Sean’s Website: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com

Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: https://a.co/d/dPKZ40X

David Albert on Sean Carroll’s Mindscape: https://youtu.be/AglOFx6eySE 

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:59 Introduction

08:11 Superposition and The Many-Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics

22:34 Decoherence

27:20 Probability

41:32 Some Thought Experiments Concerning Probability

01:08:35 Parsimony

01:12:03 The Fine-Tuned Universe and Quantum Theory

01:14:52 Entropy

01:45:37 Intelligent Design

01:47:22 Boltzmann Brains Galore

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he is also Director of the Human Nature Lab and Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. Nicholas is both a sociologist and a physician; after completing his undergraduate at Yale in biology, he received an M.D. and M.P.H. from Harvard and then a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. Nicholas has written numerous books, including Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live (Little, Brown Spark, 2020) and Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society (Little, Brown Spark, 2019), and this latter book is the subject of this episode. Robinson and Nicholas first discuss the way that genetics manifest themselves in behavior before turning to the way that specific behaviors and tendencies have evolved in humans to promote the flourishing of societies. They then talk about some particular such behaviors and tendencies, like in-group bias and hierarchy, before turning to some implications of the view for how societies ought or ought not to be structured.

Nicholas’s Website: https://www.humannaturelab.net

Nicholas’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/NAChristakis

Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society: https://a.co/d/4BeJyS0

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:16 Introduction

04:28 The Motivation Behind Blueprint

23:02 The Genetic Basis of Human Societies

28:27 What Is Network Topology?

38:28 Trade-Complementarity

42:07 The Cultural Universality of Love

48:12 The Eight Cultural Universals

01:02:06 Is Hierarchy Natural?

01:07:13 Human In-Group Bias

01:12:23 Is There a Relationship Between Genes and Social Status?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Tamar Schapiro is Professor of Philosophy at MIT. Her work centers on value theory, the history of ethics, and how this relates to human agency and reasoning. Robinson and Tamar’s discussion center around her latest book, Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will, which explores the relationship between the two in a Kantian framework. They also talk about her experience teaching ethics at STEM-focused schools (Tamar taught at Stanford for fifteen years before moving to the east coast), Kant’s thoughts on free will, topics in the history of ethics, and why she teaches Ayn Rand’s philosophy to undergraduates. You can keep up with Tamar and her work through her PhilPeople page, at https://philpeople.org/profiles/tamar-schapiro.

Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com 

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

4:44 Tamar’s Interest in Ethics

9:35 Teaching Ethics at MIT

11:40 On Inclination and Will

18:10 Distinguishing Inclination and Will

21:23 The Moment of Drama

26:27 Rationalism and Intellectualism

29:56 Tamar’s Theory

36:58 Kant and the Animal Self

38:33 Freud and Analytic Philosophy

40:36 A Normative Component to Tamar’s Theory

53:54 Kant’s Kingdom of Ends

56:53 Kant on Free Will

1:00:50 Rationalism and Sentimentalism

1:07:16 Hobbes on Moral Obligation

1:12:02 On Richard Price

1:15:04 Jeremy Benthem on Utilitarianism

1:20:44 Cognitivism and Non-Cognitivism

1:23:44 The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Stephen Wolfram is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, and the creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language. He received his PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech when he was twenty years old. In addition to his work at the helm of Wolfram Research, he writes and researches widely across computer science, physics, mathematics, and more. This is Stephen’s second appearance on the show. In episode 102, he and Robinson discussed artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, and the philosophy of math. In this episode, however, they turn to the Ruliad—the entangled limited of computability—and Stephen’s search for the fundamental theory of physics. Along the way, they talk about the philosophy of science, abstract and concrete objects, and quantum mechanics.

A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0917YZDNF?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_Z7EPANZC9JVQR0HP2E1D

The Concept of the Ruliad: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/11/the-concept-of-the-ruliad/#:~:text=November%2010%2C%202021-,The%20Entangled%20Limit%20of%20Everything,arisen%20from%20our%20Physics%20Project.

Stephen’s Website: https://www.stephenwolfram.com

Stephen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram

Wolfram Research on YouTube: https://a.co/d/aADrGGh

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:44 How Did Stephen Wolfram Discover the Ruliad? 

34:22 The Axiomatic Revolution in Physics 

46:37 Is the Ruliad a Theory or an Object? 

1:10:01 How Big is the Space of Alien Minds? 

1:18:25 Is the Universe an Abstract Object? 

1:31:43 What Is Quantum Mechanics? 

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Daniel Levitin is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at McGill University and Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at Minerva University. He is also a record producer, musician, and writer. In this episode, Robinson and Daniel discuss one of his best-selling books, This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (Penguin, 2006), as well as some of the songs on his two albums, Turnaround (2020) and Sex & Math (2021). More particularly, they talk about whether a neurological understanding of the mind and music reduces or increases one’s appreciation for music, how the brain processes complex music, whether music is evolved, why we get songs stuck in our head, and why some sounds are more pleasing than others.

Daniel’s Website: https://www.daniellevitin.com

This Is Your Brain On Music: https://a.co/d/fDxIvxd

Sex & Math: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/daniellevitin/sex--math

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:56 Introduction

03:05 Music, Awe, and Neuroscience

11:12 Neuroscience and Songwriting

17:10 Why Can the Brain Easily Process Complex Music?

34:59 Why Do We Get Songs Stuck in Our Heads?

41:12 Why Do We Prefer Some Musical Time Signatures and Sounds to Others?

58:02 What Gives Some Musicians the IT Factor?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Robinson’s Podcast #240 - Peter Godfrey-Smith: Cuttlefish, Octopuses, and the Consciousness of Mysterious Minds

Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He has also taught at Stanford University and Harvard University. Among other topics, he has researched the philosophy of biology and mind, and is very well-known for his book Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness (FSG, 2016). In this episode, Peter and Robinson discuss that book, as well as his latest, Living on Earth (William Collins, 2024). More particularly, they discuss cuttlefish, octopuses, consciousness, metaethics, and animal welfare.

Peter’s Website: https://petergodfreysmith.com

Living on Earth: https://a.co/d/9MvUFHV

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

01:10 Scuba Diving with Cuttlefish and Octopuses

09:43 Why Did Creatures Evolve Nervous Systems?

16:18 Why Did Conscious Minds Evolve?

27:23 Why Do We Believe that Other Animals Have Minds?

36:49 Do Shrimp or Fish Feel Pain?

47:01 What’s It Like to Be an Octopus?

57:32 What Is Metaethics?

1:04:57 First-Order Ethics

1:08:12 Is It Morally Acceptable to Eat Animals?

1:16:04 What Does Peter Eat?

1:29:49 Future Work

Richard Kimberly Heck has been a professor of philosophy at Brown University since 2005, at which time they left their post at Harvard, where they had taught for over a decade. On the way to receiving their PhD in philosophy and linguistics at MIT, they studied at Duke and Oxford. While Professor Heck’s primary research focus has been logic and Frege, over the past few years they have shifted to the philosophy of sex and pornography. This is Robinson and Riki’s third conversation on the subjects. Their first and second were episodes 5 and 17, though the installments are not sequential and only linked by topic. Among other things, Robinson and Riki discuss empirical approaches to the philosophy of sex, understanding oneself as a gendered person, and the depiction of oral sex in pornography.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/

Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt

YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. This is Slavoj’s fourth appearance on the show. On episode 109, he and Robinson discussed wokeness and psychoanalysis. On episode 118, he, Sean Carroll, and Robinson discussed quantum physics, the multiverse, and time travel. And on episode 206 he, Lee Smolin, and Robinson discussed quantum physics. In this episode, Robinson and Slavoj talk about ancient philosophy, god, communism, quantum mechanics, and psychoanalysis.

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

02:47 Why Is Philosophy More important Now Than Ever?

11:08 On Socrates and the Importance of Philosophy

19:12 On Excrement, God, and Atheism

27:50 A Communist Paradise

34:18 Ukraine and Marxism

39:24 Philosophy and Quantum Mechanics

47:56 Is Lying the Point of Language?

55:49 Cursing as a Test for Artificial Intelligence

58:25 On Philosophers and Physicists

1:01:50 On Superpositions and Quantum Mechanics

1:09:28 On Analytic and Continental Philosophy 

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between.